My Past, My Present
by Ying-Fa-dono
Summary: Sarah returns to her childhood home after years of being away only to discover a child of the Underground, lost and far from home, in need of her help as he is hunted by dark creatures that seek his life. The only trouble is, the child addresses himself as the Goblin Prince! Co-written by cmsully
1. Childhood Memories

**Ying-Fa: Hello Labyrinth world! It's been so long but fret not, I'm finally back with a new Labyrinth fic! This is a collaboration work between me and the wonderful cmsully who gave me the idea and has been co-writing this piece with me, so you can thank her for my return! Please review and let me know what you think!**

Sarah stared into the bedroom that had once been hers and let out a sigh as she looked over the walls, once full of toys and games, that now stood barren and dusty. It was hard to believe it was the same room that where she'd dreamed up all her childhood fantasies. It had once been so alive with her imaginings and now it stood cold and empty with years of being unused.

Sarah Williams' return to her childhood home was not a particularly happy event. At the age of eighteen, she'd moved away to college where she'd earned a degree in English and worked as a substitute teacher across the country. She'd moved many times, saw many new people, and enjoyed the fullness of life for ten years until her stepmother, Irene, called with some very tragic news. Sarah's father, Robert, had been on the way home from work one evening when his car had been hit by a drunk driver. Sarah, Irene, and Sarah's half-brother Toby had prayed and prayed for a miracle, but to no avail. Robert Williams had passed away from his injuries.

Irene had taken her husband's death with a severe sadness and Toby had been completely heartbroken. Watching Toby struggle with the death of his father, Irene decided that what the boy needed most was a change in scenery. She got a new job out of town and found a good apartment in a nice neighborhood. But she couldn't, for the life of her, sell Robert's house. Try as she might, there were no potential buyers looking to take the house off her hands, and she couldn't afford to continue paying the mortgage on it while trying to establish a new life for herself and her son. When Sarah heard of Irene's plight, she decided to help her stepmother. With the money she'd acquired from teaching, she bought the house from Irene. Sarah got a new, steady job as a drama teacher at her old high school and, with a heavy heart, she moved into her father's house.

With another sigh, Sarah closed the door to her old bedroom. So far, the only things in the house were the things she could bring with her in her car. Within the next two days, the movers would arrive with her furniture, even through it wasn't much. Sarah had lived in dorms and one-bedroom apartments since she moved out of this house the first time around. She never had many roommates or had ever lived with any significant others, unusual for a twenty-eight year old, but it was her life nevertheless. Sarah liked living on her own, that was all.

After taking a while to roam around the barren house, checking every room, she came across what was once her parent's bedroom. Irene had left behind the queen-size bed that she and Robert had shared but everything else, Robert's books and Irene's antiques, had all been cleared away. Sarah didn't take in the empty shelves though. She went straight across the room and opened the window and looked through. Her heart pounded with the thoughts of old dreams and a childhood fantasy she'd never forget.

Forgetting about the Labyrinth was next to impossible. For years, she kept the Labyrinth alive in her heart. She believed that the creatures and friends she'd made did indeed exist and were right on the other side of the mirror if she chose to call them. But as time went on, she had begun to rationalize with herself. She told herself that, if the Labyrinth _did_ exist, she could never tell anyone else about it. What would the rest of the world think if they heard her speaking about goblins and dwarfs and mythical creatures? What happened if she disappeared to that world again and didn't make it back? To know of another world was dangerous and so she had to pretend that it didn't exist. Soon, she began to believe that it really _didn't_ exist and so the Labyrinth faded along with her dreams of acting and fantasy.

Now, many years later, all there was outside the window of her parent's room was a view of the park where she used to dress up in costumes and recite lines from her favorite book. She hadn't been to that park in ages. Perhaps a little walk there would be just what she needed. All that was in the house right now were a few boxes and she was in no mood to unpack everything and try and find a place for everything in the old house. Making up her mind, she left her parent's room, went downstairs, and put on her coat, and stepped out of the house.

It was early autumn and the evening was still warm but overcast with light gray clouds that didn't seem to know whether they wanted to rain or not. When Sarah reached the park, it felt like stepping back in time. The brilliant green grass, the mild spotting of flowers, the dark pine trees, the swans gliding dreamily on the pond, everything was as she remembered. Sarah took a seat on one of the stone benches and took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh air that very barely eased the weight in her heart. The idea of living in the house that was full of Robert's memory, coupled with the stresses of the move and finding a new job, had dampened Sarah's spirits. She wished she still had her old book, _The Labyrinth_, to take her back even further to a time when fantasy could still block out harsh reality. Sarah often wondered what happened to the book. She'd kept it well away after her encounter with another world and she didn't take it with her when she moved out. It must have gotten lost or sold. Either way, she'd never see it again.

In the midst of her thoughts, an unusual sound reached her ears. She heard someone sniffling, crying, somewhere near where she was. Sarah glanced around. It sounded like a child, but there wasn't anyone in sight. Sarah rose from the bench and wandered around, listening to the sad sounds and trying to discover where it was coming from.

"Hello?" she called out. "Is there anyone there?"

The sniffling stopped, as if the child was startled by the presence of a stranger so near them. Sarah continued about to wonder around and she noticed one of the tall obelisks dotted around the park. She crept closer and, before her, she noticed a small child sitting curled into a ball at the base of the obelisk, his shoulders shaking as he tried to stay quiet and cry at the same time.

"Hey," said Sarah, in a calm and friendly voice. "Are you okay?"

The boy didn't move to look at her. He was dressed in formal-looking blue clothes and he was shielding his whole head with this arms. Sarah bend down and very gently touched the child on the shoulder. "It's okay," she said softly. "I'm not gonna…"

All of a sudden, the boy's head snapped up. He leaned all the way back up against the obelisk, pointed ahead of him and yelled, "LOOK OUT!"

Sarah's head snapped in the direction he was pointing. Something was stirring in the shadows of the trees. The leaves were rustling wildly, far more than they should have with just the light breeze. Then the sounds started, long, low moans were echoing through the patches of darkness, sounds that put the image of ghosts in mind. But whatever was in those trees was darker than shadows, more frightening than ghosts.

From within the darkness of the trees, the shadows stretched forward eerily. Long, skeletal fingers were clawing the brilliant green grass as they crawled forth from the darkness, reaching out and pulling themselves out from behind the trees. The shadows stretched closer and closer, reaching and grasping for the little boy. He was pressed all the way up against the obelisk, white with terror and mumbling under his breath, "Don't let them get me. Don't let them get me! Don't let them get me!"

Sarah watched the shadows creep closer and closer, paralyzed with fright and having no idea what to do. Suddenly, the shadow's progress towards the child sped faster, they writhed and squirmed their way towards the child, who curled up yet again crying, "NO!"

Sarah couldn't stand there anymore. With a sudden surge of courage and a strength she didn't even know she had, she stepped in front of the little boy and faced the shadows and called out in a strong, confident voice that was completely at odds with how terrified she was feeling.

"My will is as strong as yours!" Sarah bellowed at the shadows. "And my kingdom is as great! You have no power over me!"

The words sounded ridiculous as she said them, but somehow, incredibly, miraculously, it worked! The shadows stopped suddenly, inches away from Sarah and the child, and their wicked black fingers twitched and recoiled as though they'd come in contact with a burning flame. As quickly as they came, the shadows pulled back into the darkness of the trees as though they'd been drawn back with an invisible fishing wire. Moments later, the darkness from behind the trees vanished and the misty evening light returned to the park as though nothing had happened.

"Y-you…you did it."

Sarah turned around faced the child, ready to smile and reassure him all was well, but she froze again. This was the first time she'd had a good look at the boy's face. He had blond hair, shoulder length yet wild, his clothes were blue and made of a strange, shimmering material, a lean face and the most familiar, mismatched eyes….


	2. Staying with the Child

"Jareth!"

The name came out before Sarah could control herself. The boy stared up at her with those horribly familiar eyes, looking puzzled.

"How do you know my name?" he demanded, looking suspicious.

"I…I'm sorry," Sarah stammered. "It's just…you look like someone…someone I used to know."

"Impossible!" cried a voice. Sarah glanced around, wondering where the voice had come from until she saw a creature sitting on the boy's shoulder. It was extremely skinny and tiny with a pair of spectacles balanced atop a long pointed nose. It had pointed teeth and wore an official-looking uniform. Sarah knew what this creature must have been, without a doubt. It was a goblin, straight from the Goblin City in the center of the Labyrinth.

"His Majesty the Prince has not set foot in the Aboveground before!" the goblin announced. It had a snobby, bossy kind of voice of a know-it-all. "And no one else would have the royal name of our goblin kings!"

"Royal name?" Sarah asked, more confused than ever.

"His Majesty the Prince was named after his father," said the goblin. "Just as his father was named after his father who was named after his father who was named…"

"I get it!" Sarah cried, stopping the goblin before it could go on. "You're the Goblin…Prince?"

"Yeah," said the boy, still staring suspiciously at Sarah. "How do you know about goblins? How do you know my name? How do you know I'm a prince? How do you know…any of this stuff anyway?"

Sarah didn't trust herself to say anything. This was the Goblin Prince, the son of the Goblin King! The very Goblin King, by the sound of it, that Sarah had made an enemy of thirteen years ago."

"This human seems to have some knowledge of our world," replied the goblin. "That must be why the King's spell brought us here of all places."

"The King sent you here?" Sarah asked, confused.

"Yes, indeed!" said the goblin. "The Unseelie have overrun the Underground and all those of powerful, magical potential, such as His Majesty the Prince, have been sent to safe havens everywhere whilst the King and his armies battle the Unseelie."

"What's…Unseelie?" Sarah asked, afraid of the answer.

"Why, the very thing you just drove away, madam," said the goblin, pointing to the trees where the clawing shadows had disappeared. "They are spirits of darkness and wickedness. If they infect a magical youth, it will corrupt their souls and twist them into something evil. His Majesty the Prince is the most talented the Labyrinth has seen in many years. The Unseelie will chase him through time and space to get at his power and turn it to wickedness."

"I…see," said Sarah. "So the Labyrinth…is under attack? Is everyone alright? Nobody's been hurt have they?"

"We don't know," said the Goblin Prince, standing up suddenly. "How could we? We just got here. My father sent me here the moment the Unseelie started to arrive. He said I'd be safer here than anywhere. I don't know why, though."

"His Majesty the King was doing what he thought was best," said the goblin.

"And who might you be?" Sarah asked the goblin.

"I am Quizzel!" said the goblin importantly. "I am the royal butler for His Majesty the Prince. I've been sent to accompany him as he takes shelter in this world. Hopefully this attack will be a short one and we will return to the Underground as soon as it is safe. Until that time, you will see to it that His Majesty the Prince is well cared for…"

"Whoa! Whoa!" Sarah cried out. "Let me stop you right there! You want _me_ to take care of him!?"

"Naturally!" said Quizzel. "That's what it says to do in the book!"

"Book? What book?" Sarah asked.

"I haven't heard of this book either," said Prince Jareth, looking perplexed.

"I have it here," said Quizzel. He reached deep into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a very large, leather bound book that should never have been able to fit into his tiny, goblin pocket. "It is a rare and valuable volume that our kind must use if we are to survive long periods here in the alternate world of the Aboveground."

Sarah took the book and read the title. "_Fae Rearing for Dummies,_" she read off the cover. "Seriously?"

"What else are they gonna call it," said Prince Jareth. "Goblins _are_ dummies."

"The point," said Quizzel, pointedly. "Is that on page 223, it clearly states that if a Fae child must be sent to the Aboveground for any reason, he or she must find a human or humans unknown that will care for the child until it is time for the child to be returned to its home."

Sarah turned to the page that Quizzel had mentioned. He was right, this book did say that. Sarah's head was spinning. This was way too much!

"But I can't take care of him," she insisted. "I…I only just moved into my house! I have work! My life is…well, it's kind of a mess right now! Not to mention, I…I'm…" Sarah's voice trailed away. "Let's just say I didn't leave a very good impression on your world last time I encountered it. You father never would have sent you to me on purpose. He doesn't even like me."

"My father does everything on purpose," Prince Jareth snapped. "My father is the greatest and most powerful Fae in the entire Underground. If he sent me here, it's because I'm supposed to be here. He meant to send me to you."

"No, he didn't," Sarah insisted. "Look…Jareth…your dad…your dad wouldn't send you to me. You're meant to stay someplace else. I'm sorry but I really can't have you in my life right now. Really…I'm sorry."

Sarah turned to leave, but Quizzel hopped off the Prince's shoulder and clung to Sarah's leg. "No, madam, no! Someone MUST look after His Majesty! You knew how to get rid of the Unseelie earlier! We are powerless in this world, only Abovegrounders have a say in what goes on in this world. Please, madam! If you don't take care of his Majesty the Prince, he will be in terrible danger. We MUST keep him safe or our world, our FUTURE will be in jeopardy! Besides, page 389 clearly states that any Abovegrounder who helps a Fae child in need will be handsomely rewarded."

"I don't want anything!" Sarah snapped, trying to shake the goblin off her leg.

"Not even wishes?" piped up the Prince, who'd picked up the book that Sarah had dropped when she tried to rid herself of Quizzel and was raising his eyebrow tantalizingly.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, still struggling with Quizzel.

"I mean, when an Abovegrounder does something for a Fae, they're paid in wishes," said Prince Jareth. "The better the job they do, the more wishes they get. Your every wish will come true if you take care of me like you're supposed to."

"Last time a Fae tried to grant one of my wishes it turned out really badly for me!" Sarah grunted as she pulled the clinging goblin from off her leg at last. "Sorry, I really am, but you've got to find someone else! I just can't take care of you right now…I can't take care of the Goblin King's kid."

"But…how will I stay safe from the Unseelie," said the Prince, his face falling down in a frown. "How will I survive in this world until my father comes?"

"I…I don't know," said Sarah, her heart getting heavy. "There…there must be someone nearby who can take care of you."

"But nobody else who can get rid of Unseelie," said the Prince, glancing back at the trees in fear. "If they find me…they'll get me…. If they get me…I'll die."

"It's true, madam!" insisted Quizzel. "His Majesty cannot survive in this world without someone to protect him. This will be a temporary responsibility, I promise you! Just take care of him for a short while. His Majesty the King will certainly come for His Majesty the Prince very soon."

Sarah stood there, completely torn. She didn't want to look after the Goblin Prince but how on earth could she just leave him here to fend for himself in a new world, all alone, with nothing but a goblin and a rather-insulting book. She didn't think it likely that anyone else nearby would have been to the Underground. She was the only one who knew about it and if an ignorant person took him in, how would they be able to protect the Prince? She wondered if anyone else could even have _seen_ those shadows. This must be why the Goblin King sent the Prince here. He knew _she'd_ probably be there. Was this some kind of payback? Well, it didn't really matter.

"Oh…alright," Sarah groaned. "Fine…whatever….you can come with me."

"Really!?" cried Quizzel, happily. "Oh, thank you, madam!"

Prince Jareth's face split into a smile a little too quickly for someone who'd looked so afraid seconds ago. "Great," he said, looking down at the book again. "Now, it says here that I'm to be given my favorite foods everyday, that I'm entitled to the best room in the house, that it must be seen that my every whim is attended to…"

"Hey!" snapped Quizzel. "It doesn't say that!"

"Yes it does," said the Prince. "See for yourself. Pages 494, 897, and 685."

Quizzel took the book and read the pages Jareth pointed out. "It…it DOES!" cried the goblin. "W-wait a minute! Who wrote this thing?"

Sarah sighed. This was going to be difficult….

**Ying-Fa: Yay! Thank you so much to everyone who responded! I have most of this story pre-written so I can update faster. Thank you so much to everyone! Please keep reading and reviewing!**


	3. Making Your Aquaintence

"When are we going to eat? Where are my chambers? Do you have any servants? Why is this place so barren? Do all Abovegrounders live this way? What are you supposed to do for fun around here? I'm bored. I'm tired. I'm hungry."

Even after teaching all manner of children for nearly a decade, it was all Sarah could do to keep herself from turning around and throwing something at the little Goblin Prince. He and Quizzel were wandering from room to room, bombarding her with questions and annoying comments while she tried to unpack her belongings to try and make the space as livable for herself, a prince, and his goblin butler. Focusing on the packing helped her tune out the Goblin Prince's voice until it became a slight hum in the background of her mind.

"The palace is remarkably unfurnished, madam," said Quizzel, appearing suddenly on top of one of Sarah's unopened boxes. "Not at all fit for a prince."

Sarah's peaceful trance of unpacking was shattered as she turned to glare at the goblin. "I told you I just moved in, didn't I?" Sarah asked, irritably. "Only some of the stuff is here, not all of it. Everything else is coming tomorrow with the movers who are bringing the furniture."

"Why ever would you allow people to take your furniture away?" Quizzel asked, rolling his eyes. "It's so strange. I'll never understand Abovegrounders and their ways."

"I'm hungry!" Prince Jareth called from up the stairs.

"I'm working on it!" Sarah snapped back. She sighed deeply and turned back to Quizzel. "How long do you think it will be before the King comes to take him home?"

"I'm afraid I don't quite know, madam," said Quizzel. "His Majesty the King is a very powerful Fae, but the Unseelie are cunning and frightful creatures. It may take time for him to rid the Labyrinth of them before it is safe for His Majesty the Prince to return."

"Great," Sarah mumbled. "So I'm stuck with Jareth Jr. indefinitely. Maybe he really _is_ doing this to punish me."

"I'm _hungry!_" Prince Jareth called again, more insistently.

"But, madam, the King must do what is best for his people," said Quizzel, looking stricken. "His Majesty the King is most insistent on the safety of His Majesty the Prince as he is his only son and heir…"

"I realize," Sarah insisted. "It just figures that he'd make _me _the one to look after his…"

"_I…am…HUN…GRY!_"

"…spoiled brat," Sarah finished in a very quiet grumble. She wouldn't be forgiving the Goblin King for this.

Sarah didn't have any food in the house and she really didn't want to take the Prince outside where others would see him. So, she hooked up her telephone into the wall and called to order food, once again tuning out the Prince and his annoying grumblings. Twenty minutes later, a delivery-man came to her door with two medium pizzas. Sarah paid the man and set the food down on the floor (as she had no table or chairs) in front of the Prince and his goblin butler. The Prince stared at the food, wide eyed and slightly unsure.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the pizza.

"It's called pizza," said Sarah, feeling drained. "It's something Abovegrounders eat when they don't want to cook anything."

Prince Jareth continued to stare at it. "Is it alive?" he asked.

"No, and it never was," Sarah explained, pulling a slice from the box and biting into it. Prince Jareth watched her eat with his mouth slightly open, as though he was impressed at how boldly she'd partaken of such curious food.

"Oh, Your Majesty!" cried Quizzel. "I must strongly advise against you eating such a thing! It doesn't appear to be sanitary!"

Prince Jareth ignored his butler. "What are those big red dots on it?" he asked. "It looks like it might be ill."

"It's called pepperoni and it's fine," said Sarah. "It's supposed to be there, in fact, it almost always is. Now, please, just eat some. You keep saying how you're starving."

"I don't think that would be wise," insisted Quizzel. "You don't know where that's been, Your Majesty!"

"It gives off a pleasant aroma," said Prince Jareth, reaching for the box.

"I must protest, Your Majesty!" said Quizzel. "Madam, is there not something more suitable for His Majesty the Prince to be eating. I don't think it's safe for him to be…YOUR MAJESTY!"

Prince Jareth had deliberately ignored Quizzel, took a slice of pizza from the box, and took a bite out of the tip. He chewed for a few moments, his expression thoughtful, but then he grinned and took a bite that was almost too big for his mouth.

"He likes it," said Sarah, triumphantly. "Hey, Mikey!"

"My name is Quizzel!" snapped the goblin, irritably.

Sarah had thought it might have been too much to buy two pizzas in the beginning, but she realized that it had actually been a good idea. Once the prince had realized that he enjoyed the pizza, he practically devoured a pizza and a half before he finally realized he was full. He'd left only enough for Sarah to have three pieces and for Quizzel to take a tiny nibble at the last one before pushing it away, his pointed face twisting in disgust.

"Wow!" Prince Jareth sighed, falling to the floor on his back. "Maybe the Aboveground won't be as bad as I thought! Can we have more peas-a tomorrow? And the day after that?"

"It's pricy, Jareth," said Sarah, cleaning up the boxes but her mood lightened now the she had food in her system and the prince had stopped complaining. "I'll go shopping tomorrow after my furniture gets here and get more food then. What kinds of things do you normally eat anyway?"

"It's all right here, madam," said Quizzel, holding up _Fae Rearing for Dummies._ "It says on page 139 that Faes are partial to natural foods such as fruits and vegetables and various types of meats. Most starches, however, are unhealthy for a Fae diet but products such as milk and eggs are safe. Salt, on the other hand, is to be avoided at all costs. All Fae have an allergy to salt as it is anti-magical and must not be included in any meals."

"I'll have to remember that tomorrow," said Sarah, heavily.

"Well, now that we're talking about my world," said Prince Jareth, sitting up and staring hard at Sarah. "Are you gonna explain how you know my father?"

Sarah looked over at the prince and felt her insides squirm. She'd rather the prince not know about the truth of how she's connected to his world. The truth was that the Goblin King had taken her baby brother Toby when he was a little boy and had tried all he could to stop her from taking him back. Not only that, but the Goblin King had tried to offer Sarah her dreams if she gave him her love in return. Definitely not something his son ought to be hearing.

"I went to your world once a long time ago," Sarah told him, carefully. "I'd lost…something…there once and I had to go and get it back."

"What was it?" Prince Jareth asked.

Sarah thought for a moment. "Something that I took for granted," she said, avoiding a direct answer. "You dad…thought I didn't want it anymore and so when I wanted it back, we kinda…disagreed."

Prince Jareth raised an eyebrow. "My father wouldn't do that," he said. "My father is the greatest. Are you sure you didn't do something to make him mad? That's the only thing I can think that could make him refuse to fulfill a request from someone asking for his help."

Sarah sighed. "It's just complicated," she said. "Anyway, I got what I wanted back and I left and I never went back to the Underground. That's pretty much it. There's nothing more to tell."

"If you say so," said Prince Jareth, leaning back casually and stretching out on the floor. It amazed Sarah how much he looked like his father in that moment. Same blonde hair, same mismatched eyes…

"Jareth…what's your mother like?" Sarah asked suddenly, unsure what prompted her to ask.

"My mother?" Prince Jareth said. "My mother is only the most beautiful Fae in the entire Underground. That's why my father married her you see. It's meant to be. My father's the most powerful Fae ever and my mother's the most beautiful ever. They were meant to be together. That's what makes _me_ the best!" he added, smirking.

Sarah managed a wry smile while she felt an unusual pang in her stomach that had nothing to do with pizza. So the Goblin King found love without her then. How ironic, that he'd claimed to love her while Sarah had not returned his affections. Now he was married with a child while she lived on her life as a single loner. Strange how these things worked out.

The clock that Sarah had unpacked forty-five minutes earlier read that it was nearly ten o'clock and Prince Jareth's eyelids were starting to droop. Now that he was full of food and out of energy, Sarah asked him to show her which room he'd decided he wanted to sleep in so she could get him settled for the night. Of course, of all the rooms he could have picked, it had to be her old bedroom.

"There's something about this room that I like better than the others," he said, dreamily staring around the barren walls. "It has a warm aura to it…like it was loved once…a sanctuary."

Sarah decided not to comment on that. She found a sleeping bag, a couple of quilts and an extra pillow for the prince and tried her best to make him comfortable. She promised that when the furniture came tomorrow, she'd have a real bed for him so, until then, he'd have to make do. Quizzel had taken one of her empty cardboard boxes and simply stuffed himself inside without anything else for comfort and, though he looked like a contortionist lodged in there, within minutes he was snoring softly and smiling serenely with a small trail of drool sliding out the corner of his mouth.

"Try and get some sleep, okay?" Sarah told Prince Jareth, tucking him in snugly. "Are you comfortable enough?"

"Mostly, I guess," he admitted, shifting a little in the cocoon of quilts.

"Alright," said Sarah. "Good night." She turned to leave.

"Sarah," the prince called out to her. Sarah looked back at him. His eyes wandered over to the window at the darkness. "I…I am…safe…right?"

Sarah blinked at him for a moment, and then understood. He was worried about the Unseelie. "Don't worry about it," she said. "Nothing will hurt you, not while I'm in charge, okay?"

Prince Jareth didn't look entirely reassured, but he nodded and laid his head back down onto his pillow. Sarah closed the door until it was only open a crack and then went over to her father and Irene's old bedroom where she'd be spending the night.

None of them noticed a snowy-white barn owl perched on the tree outside as it gazed down at the little prince before taking off into the night.


	4. Unfair

Sarah's furniture was scheduled to arrive at around 10 am the next day, so Sarah went out and bought some breakfast sandwiches from a nearby drive-thru for herself, the prince, and the goblin. Jareth had been just as delighted with the greasy sandwich as he had been with the pizza, taking it all apart and eating it separately but relishing every single bite. Quizzel, on the other hand, was not at all pleased with his sandwich, but he did steal Sarah's tall, black coffee and drank it all to the last drop.

"This drink! It's fantastic!" the goblin announced, smacking his lips as he drained Sarah's coffee cup. "I feel an unnatural buzzing within me! A flow of energy the likes of which I've never known! POWER FLOWS THROUGH ME!" He then proceeded to throw his head back and laugh like a mad scientist.

Sarah shook her head. "No more caffeine for you."

The furniture finally arrived and Sarah's day got even more hectic. Juggling between getting her house in order and keeping Jareth out of trouble would have been manageable if she'd had a team of at least ten to twenty people with her. But, alas, she was doing it all on her own. The first thing she put up was the television, hoping it would hypnotize the prince into sitting down and behaving. It had worked fairly well, at first, he sat there and laughed and marveled at the images on the screen but it hadn't really been the best idea to teach him how to use the remote as well.

"Hey, Sarah! What's…_Ca…sa…E…ro…ti…ca?_"

"NO, JARETH! THAT'S PAY PER VIEW!" Sarah screamed, running forward and snatching the remote and changing the channel quickly.

Later, as Sarah had been setting up appliances in the kitchen, Jareth went through her boxed and found the blender and she'd had to run forward and stop him from grinding Quizzel into goo. He hid from her for a whole half-hour inside her dryer, he piled all of her couch cushions together and leaped down onto them from the stairs, he mistook her makeup for art supplies, and he thought her blow-dryer and hair curler were torture devices…

By mid-afternoon, Sarah was absolutely fed up with the Fae child. She took him into her old bedroom, closed the door, and locked him inside despite his furious protests.

"I don't care what you're used to," Sarah snapped at him through the closed door. "But this is how things are over here! I can't have you tearing my house apart when I'm just barely piecing it back together!"

"You can't lock me in here!" Jareth shrieked, pounding on the door. "I'm the prince!"

"Well, here you're just a kid!" Sarah yelled back. "Now stay in there and behave until I say you can come out!" And with that she marched away, ignoring the sounds of a huge tantrum going on within the room.

"Madam! Madam!" Quizzel insisted. "You must be mindful of His Majesty the Prince! He is a delicate child…"

"Delicate!? Ha!" Sarah said, rather cruelly. "He's about as delicate as a chainsaw!"

Sarah marched back downstairs and collapsed onto her couch (she'd replaced the cushions) and let out a long, exhausted breath. How fitting was this? To be stuck taking care of her archenemy's spoiled brat? This is just the thing the Goblin King would do to her. Wait years and years to plan this most perfect revenge and watch her stew trying to keep his child from leveling the house.

Sarah groaned. It wasn't like she'd seen children like this during her career as a teacher. She'd met tons of children who'd been spoiled or ignored by their parents and would go to drastic measures to get attention, but it seemed so much easier to deal with them as she sat behind a desk. And, of course, she could always send them home with notes pinned to them or in their backpacks to let their parents deal with them. But there was nothing she could do with the Goblin Prince. She couldn't send him home to a war-torn Labyrinth with a note pinned to his shirt that he'd behaved too poorly to stay in the Aboveground and asking whether or not this was the Goblin King's idea of a joke.

The thought of Jareth Sr. brought a whole new world of emotions to Sarah. How could someone have gone from wanting her love to wanting her humiliated so easily? He was such a jerk. Sarah felt willing to bet that this war must have been his fault. He was so nasty he probably provoked those Unseelie things into fighting in the first place. Sarah wondered what had become of the friends she'd made during her visit to the Labyrinth. She really hoped they were alright. As she recalled, Jareth Sr. didn't much like Hoggle, the dwarf, and would probably not hesitate to force him into fighting something well out of his league. These thoughts only made her more frustrated and angry with the flamboyant king.

Sarah let her arm flop down off the couch and her knuckle hit something hard on the ground. Glancing down, she saw it was _Fae Rearing for Dummies_. Sarah picked up the book and flipped through the pages, wondering if there was some kind of page dedicated to the Underground equivalent of "Spare the rod, spoil the child". Then she noticed that the corner of one of the pages was folded down. Curious, she opened the book to the marked page and read:

"Contrary to Aboveground children, Fae children do not respond well to being confined as a source of punishment. Where Aboveground children may learn to obey whilst being confined to their chambers for a set period of time, this treatment is only harmful to Fae youth. From birth to adolescence, Fae youth all suffer from mild to moderate forms of claustrophobia (the severe disliking for small spaces or confined rooms). Should a Fae child be forced into any such space for any length of time, they will draw power from their inner magic in order to free themselves as a self-defense mechanism to protect their physical and psychological well-being."

Uh-oh.

Sarah threw the book down and hurried up the stairs as quickly as she could, pulling her keys out of her pocket as she reached the door to her old room. "Jareth!" she cried out. "Jareth! Can you hear me!? I'm letting you out now!"

Sarah unlocked the door and opened it at once but at once her mouth opened in horror. The window was open and the Goblin Prince was nowhere to be found.

"Oh crap! Oh crap!" Sarah cried, running downstairs to grab her coat and slipped on some shoes. Jareth couldn't have gotten too far. She'd only left him in there for five minutes or so. Sarah hurried out the door and glanced around in every direction for the prince, but didn't see him anywhere.

"Jareth! Jareth!" Sarah called out. "Quizzel! Where are you?!"

There was a sudden, loud _pop!_ behind her and Sarah twisted around in shock. Quizzel had appeared out of thin air next to her, looking just as surprised to be there as Sarah was to see him.

"What!? Where!? Madam!" Quizzel cried as soon as he saw Sarah. "What's going on!? What am I doing here?"

"Quizzel, where's Jareth!?" Sarah demanded.

"Why, wasn't he being kept in his quarters?" Quizzel asked, but then his eyes widened. "Oh, no…don't tell me…"

"Yeah, he escaped!" Sarah snapped. "Quizzel, why didn't you tell me he was afraid of being in locked rooms?!"

"I did, Madam!" Quizzel insisted. "I told you he was delicate, did I not?"

"That's not specific enough!" Sarah exploded. "Oh, never mind! Just help me find him."

"Very good, Madam!"

Sarah and the goblin split up in search for the young prince. It was a dull, grey day that threatened rain, and Sarah dearly hoped she'd find Jareth before that started. Sarah wracked her brain trying to think where the Goblin Prince would go. He didn't know the Aboveground at all. Would he brave the more populated areas of town or would he seek someplace private? The latter, she decided, would make the most sense. Not only was he trying to get away from her, but he knew that there were Unseelie searching for him, and so he would want to go someplace hidden where he could get away from everything.

_The park!_ Sarah thought, suddenly.

Her mind made up, Sarah hurried to the park that she'd known as a child, the place where she'd found the Goblin Prince in the first place. It was the only place here he knew…but it was also where he'd been attacked by Unseelie. Sarah had to hurry.

She arrived at the park just as it began to sprinkle rain. Sarah hurried around the park, looking for any sign of the Prince. She checked behind the obelisks, the stone benches, around the pond, amidst the trees, everywhere she herself had once used as hiding places when she came here. Finally, she spotted a shock of blond hair hidden among the bushes on the opposite side of the pond.

"Jareth!" Sarah cried out. "Jareth, is that you?"

"Go away!" came the sharp reply.

"Jareth, come on," Sarah insisted. "It's starting to rain. I'm sorry I locked you in the room, I didn't realize it would scare you like that. You just have to come back now, okay?"

"I don't want to!" the Prince snapped, glaring at Sarah. "I want my mother and my father! I want the Labyrinth! I wanna go home!"

"You can't go home right now," Sarah reminded him. "Your dad left you with me because home is too dangerous for you right now."

"I'd rather fight the Unseelie than get stuck in this lousy place!" Jareth spat at her. Sarah had seen reactions like this in difficult students all the time. His face was reddening but his eyes were getting brighter. He was hurting and lashing out because of it.

"I'm sorry but this is the way it has to be right now," Sarah told him.

"What do you care?" Jareth snapped. "You don't want me here any more than I want to be here! I can tell! Why did I have to get sent away!? I don't want to be here anymore! It's not fair!"

Sarah blinked. Hearing those words come out of the mouth of a boy who looked so like her old enemy…the irony wasn't lost to her.

"Well then," said Sarah, stiffly. "I wonder what your basis for comparison is."

Jareth looked over at her and sniffed angrily.

"You're right," Sarah said. "It's not fair, but that's the way it is. You want to know your problem? You take too many things for granted. Take this place. Even if you hate being here that much, you don't have a way to get back. What's worse is you have Unseelie after you. They came here once and I'm willing to bet that they'll come after you again when you're all alone like you were a few minutes ago."

Jareth eyed her nastily, but he didn't argue with her.

"And you were also right about me," said Sarah. "I didn't want you here. I see you and Quizzel and all it does is make me think about the mistakes that I made when I visited your world. It's a tough part of my past to look back on and I'd rather not think about it anymore, but I don't have that luxury anymore. Regardless, it wasn't right for me to be mean to you like that. This is my fault….and I'm sorry."

Jareth blinked at her, the malice draining quickly from his face as though the rain that was now coming down steadily on top of their heads had washed his anger away.

"Now," said Sarah. "Can we please go home and…try this again?"

Sarah stretched out her hand to the Prince hopefully. He eyed it suspiciously, but it seemed that either reason or the cold, wet rain had gotten the better of him. "Sure," he mumbled, grabbing her hand and leading him away.

As they left the park, they didn't notice the figure hiding in the shadows, watching them.

"So that is the Prince's protector. Getting a hold of him might be easier than we thought." He said, as tentacles of shadows coiled and uncoiled around his body…


	5. Managing and Music

The following day, Sarah was due back at work. She hated the idea of leaving Jareth alone in the house with only Quizzel for company, but she didn't see any other option. She couldn't take him to work with her in case he threw another tantrum and cast spells on her students. For those reasons also, she couldn't leave him with a baby-sitter or in a daycare. Going outside was dangerous for him if the Unseelie were still poking around, so staying at the house and waiting for her to get back was their only option. Before she left she set up some very strict ground rules for him.

1. Do NOT leave the house until she got back.

2. If it looks sharp and dangerous, it probably is so DON'T touch it.

3. If there's something in the house that he didn't know how to work, LEAVE IT ALONE until she got back.

4. There was food in the fridge and he could have some if he got hungry. However there must STILL BE food in the fridge when she returned.

5. Any mess he makes will be HIS responsibility to clean up when she got back.

6. Emergencies happen when someone is hurt, someone unknown is trying to enter the house, an Unseelie shows up, or all of the above. If any of these happen CALL IMMEDIATELY. If none of these happen DO NOT CALL.

Sarah then showed Jareth how to work a telephone and taped her office number to the top of the phone so he wouldn't have to remember. She then made Jareth swear on pain of death that he would obey her rules and then she left for work.

She hardly paid attention to her students that day. She was so worried that something would happen to the Goblin Prince while he was alone in her house. What if his claustrophobia got to him again? What if he got bored and started using magic on her house? What if she came home and found a crater where her house used to be?

Sarah wasn't stupid. She knew this was some kind of test from the Goblin King. If anything happened to his son while he was in her care, he'd take it out on her. He might even go after Toby again. Sarah shuddered at the thought. She could just see the Goblin King in her mind now, an adult version of his son.

_Well, Sarah, it seems you've done an extremely poor job in caring for my son. See, I knew you weren't capable of taking care of children. Perhaps your little brother would have been better off with me after all. Y'know, maybe I'll take back my son AND little Toby while I'm here._

Sarah had to give herself a little shake and put the King out of her mind. She couldn't stand the thought of losing her brother, especially so soon after the loss of her father. The Goblin King was capable of cruelty, this she knew, he'd told her so himself. But how cruel would he be if she didn't manage to take care of his son?

_That was so not how she wanted her next meeting with the Goblin King to go._

"Miss Williams."

Sarah snapped out of her brooding thoughts. She was in the teacher's lounge, waiting for her students to come back from their lunch break. She was looking up at the principal, Mrs. Hyde. Students loved making fun of Mrs. Hyde because her name gave most of her personality away. She was harsh, cold, and generally disliked. Students believed that she woke up every morning named Mrs. Jekyll until she had her morning coffee that turned her into a monster.

"Miss Williams, you failed to fill out your roll sheet this morning," Mrs. Hyde told her, sneering.

"Oh right!" Sarah said, shaking her head as though to shake off. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again…."

"I should very much like to think so," said Mrs. Hyde. "I know this must be difficult for you, being a substitute for the majority of your career, but I demand results form my teachers!"

"But I just…" Sarah began, but Mrs. Hyde cut her off.

"You'll have to learn how things are done properly here, Miss Williams. Money is tight and we'll have to make cuts by the end of the year. I certainly hope I don't have reason to cut the drama program with students constantly skipping classes."

"They're not skipping my class," Sarah insisted.

"Oh? But how can you know? You didn't take roll," Mrs. Hyde shot back. "You've got to keep up, Miss Williams. You've got to keep up."

The principal walked away and a long string of words and names crossed Sarah's mind that she would _never_ say in front of her little brother. Mrs. Hyde hadn't been at this school when Sarah had been here as a student but if she had Sarah might actually have participated more in the pranks students would often commit against staff members that were disliked by students. Maybe she'd let Prince Jareth come to work with her after all….

But no, Sarah thought, clearing her thoughts of Mrs. Hyde's negativity. She needed this job. It was as simple as that. She'd just have to put up with Mrs. Hyde from now on.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

When Sarah got off work, she quickly ran to the grocery store to buy more food for herself, the prince, and his goblin guardian. Then, she headed for home hoping that the Prince hadn't managed to completely demolish the house. Fortunately, when she got back, the house looked fine…well, at least the _outside_ did.

Sarah entered the house to find both the television and the stereo on at the same time. Jareth was wandering around between the two of them, as though unsure which he wanted to pay more attention two and the volume on both appliances was up so high, Sarah thought her eardrums would burst.

"Jareth!" Sarah cried out, but she could barely hear herself. She walked over to the remote control for the television and turned off at once, then walked over and did the same to the stereo.

"Hey!" Jareth protested. "I was using those."

"Both at once?" Sarah asked, inserting a finger into her ear and rotating it to ease the throbbing ache that the thunderous noise had done to her eardrums. "Why did you have them up so loud?"

"I was watching the tele-cision but the story kept getting interrupted by people talking about weird stuff like this goo you're supposed to put on your teeth and something about "retirement plans". It got boring so I turned on the giant black music box but then the music kept getting interrupted too! I didn't want to miss the stuff on the tele-cision but I didn't want to miss the music either so I played them both at once."

"But that still doesn't explain why you had them on so loud I could hear it all the way from the school," Sarah said.

"So I could hear one of them over the other!" Jareth said, sounding exasperated that this obvious fact hadn't occurred to her.

Sarah sighed and shook her head, but she was smiling. Of all the things that Jareth could have gotten into or done while she was away, this was nothing. "Come on, kiddo," she said. "Let's find Quizzel and then we can have dinner."

"I agree with that, I'm hungry," Jareth said. "I think Quizzel is in that closet over there, trying to escape the noise. And…Sarah, could you tell me what the heck "insurance" is supposed to be? Those stupid messages on the tele-cision and the music box wouldn't shut up about it."

Quizzel was, indeed, taking shelter in the closet and seemed temporarily deaf from the noise of Jareth's attempts to keep himself occupied while Sarah was away. Sarah made Jareth a fruit salad which he seemed to really enjoy and tried to offer some to Quizzel, but it was difficult.

"This…is…for…you!" Sarah said, trying to hand the goblin a bowl but he just stared at her.

"WHAT!?" he yelled, cupping his hand around his ear.

"This bowl is for you!" Sarah repeated a little louder.

"WHAT!?" the goblin yelled again. "THE WHOLE IS FOURTY TWO? NO, I'M SORRY, I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU!?"

"Just how long did you have the volume like that?" Sarah asked the prince.

"Since a little while after you left this morning," Jareth replied, grinning.

"Poor Quizzel," said Sarah, shaking her head.

"SNORE BIZZEL?" asked Quizzel.

"Oh, I found something of yours!" said Jareth suddenly, hopping down from his seat and running off for a second. He came back a short while later, carrying something in his hands. "I was looking around this morning after you were gone and I found this."

Sarah's heart leapt. It was her old music box. The one with the spinning figure that she'd had since she was very young. Her mother had given it to her so it was very dear to her heart, the spinning figure looking like her in an elegant ball gown and…that song it played…

It was the same song…that _he_ sang to her…

"Where'd you get that?" Sarah asked, remembering that all her items that she'd owned that reminded her of the Labyrinth had been put away.

"Up there," said Jareth, pointing to the ceiling and indicating the attic. "I thought I heard something so I went up there to look and found all these boxes with all this stuff in there."

"OXES WITH CHUFF AND FLARE?" Quizzel asked.

"Oh," said Sarah, her insides squirming. "I…um…don't go up there again without asking first, okay?"

"What!?" Jareth whined. "Why not?"  
"Because…it's dark up there…and cold and I…there's fragile stuff up there and I don't want you up there without my permission, okay?"

"YOU DON'T WANT TO TRUMP A CIRCUMSISION?" Quizzel asked, looking confused.

Jareth huffed, but didn't argue. "Can I at least keep this?" he pointed to the music box.

"Why'd you want that," said Sarah, uneasily. "It's…kinda girly isn't it?"

"I like the song," Jareth said, winding it up so that the old tune rang out throughout the room. "It's nice. For some reason…I think of home just a little bit." The thought made him look a little sad.

Sarah's insides squirmed more than ever, but she couldn't bring herself to take the music box away from the homesick little prince. "I guess you must really like music."

"I love music!" Jareth said. "It's the best! It's the only thing that helps me sane during most of my lessons. My father even says that my music skills might be the best magic I possess."

"FEST MAGIC OF SORCERESSES?!" Quizzel yelled, trying in vain to understand the conversation.

Sarah smiled. Seems that being talented with magic ran in the family. Jareth's father, the Goblin King that Sarah knew, was also quite into music from what she could tell. Whenever he sang, it was like his magic was thickest in the air.

That night as Sarah went to bed, she could hear the tinkering sounds of the music box across the hall from her old bedroom where Jareth was sleeping with the door open. She wondered how much longer the little prince would have to stay with her, and what it would be like to see his father again. Would he even come? Surely he would, when he'd so deliberately sent his son to her. What would he say? Would he be happy to see her? Angry? Grateful? How would she feel to see him?

For the first time in a long time, the Goblin King's song carried Sarah off to sleep and dreams…

**Ying-Fa: Sorry for the slight delay. Thanks everyone who has reviewed so far! You guys are great!**


	6. Family Visits

An entire week went by since Sarah had begun juggling work with taking care of a Goblin Prince and so she was extremely relieved when the weekend arrived. Being the drama teacher, she didn't assign her students too much homework, so she wasn't stuck inside grading like most of her colleagues at the school during their weekends. It was also lucky because Jareth needed all of the attention that she could afford to give him. He'd obeyed her rules about staying inside while she was at work, but by the time she got back he was already so stir crazy that she had to take him outside for an hour or so.

All Sarah had wanted to do was relax for the two measly days she had off and not have to worry about anything else. Unfortunately, her weekend would turn out to be anything but relaxing.

Sarah knew at once that this weekend would be a challenge when she heard a knock on the door at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and opened the door to reveal none other than her stepmother, Irene, and her precious half-brother, Toby.

"SARAH!" Toby yelled, running forward and hugging Sarah tightly around the middle. Sarah embraced him back, trying to hide her shock with excitement.

"Irene," she replied, breathlessly. "Toby, wha…what are you both doing here!?"

"Oh, we just came to see how you were settling in," said Irene, carrying a wrapped bundle in her arms. One whiff told Sarah that it was Irene's famous banana bread. "Looks like you're just about moved in, aren't you?"

"Y-yeah," said Sarah. "Hey, you guys I'm actually…."

"Sarah!" cried a voice from behind her. "There's people!"

Jareth had arrived in the living room and was staring at Irene and Toby like they were some kind of multi-headed aliens. Irene peeked behind Sarah at the young prince wearing an expression that was exactly the same.

"Sarah, who…?"

"That's…that's Jareth," said Sarah, hastily trying to come up with a reason why she'd have a kid running around her house. "He's the son of a friend…of a friend. I'm…I'm just babysitting him for a couple days."

"Oh," said Irene, still looking puzzled.

"Hey!" Toby ran around his mother and Sarah and approached Jareth, who raised an eyebrow at the approaching boy. "How's it going? My name's Toby. What's yours?"

"Jareth," the Goblin Prince replied.

"That's kind of a funny name," said Toby.

"Well, I think Toby is kind of a funny name," replied Jareth.

The two boys stared at each other for a long time, sizing each other up. Finally, after a long time, Toby asked. "Do you have a Game Boy?"

"Um…no," Jareth answered, clearly wondering what on earth a Game Boy cold be.

"Really!?" Toby sounded shocked. "Man, you do even know! Here, I brought mine. You wanna see it?"

"Okay," said Jareth, brightening up.

The two boys then ran over to Sarah's couch and were immediately absorbed in the world of the Game Boy. Sarah's stomach twisted uncomfortably for a minute, but she pushed the feelings away. The Goblin _King_ had been the one to nearly rid her of Toby. The Goblin _Prince_ was innocent in the matter and it would be a relief for him to play with someone close to his own age.

"I'm sorry we didn't call or anything before we arrived," said Irene, stepping into the house as Sarah closed the door behind her. "If I'd known you were busy…"

"I'm not busy," said Sarah, honestly. "I've been looking after Jareth for a few days now and he hasn't been able to play with any other kids yet. This is good for him…and quite honestly for me too. He's kinda driving me crazy."

The two women settled themselves in the dining room while Toby and Jareth had free reign over the rest of the house. Sarah only hoped that Quizzel would stay out of sight until her family was gone. A kid she could make excuses for, but a goblin? That would take some _real_ explaining.

"So, how are things going?" Sarah asked as she and Irene were settled.

"Oh it's…been an adjustment," Irene said, heavily. "Toby's doing well in his new school. He's got…well…a couple friends but not as many as where he was before. But his grades are keeping up, just like I was hoping…"

"Irene," said Sarah, seriously. "I'm not fifteen anymore. You can be honest with me."

Irene sighed. "He misses his father. We both do. I miss Robert so much but…but it's just something we're going to have to get through, isn't it? There's no…bringing him back. Still, you can't just…bounce back after losing a husband or a father."

Sarah nodded. She was glad that they'd tackled the subject of her father immediately. She feel the need to ignore an elephant in the room. "I know," she said. "I miss him too. Being in this house…well, if it wasn't for Jareth's visit practically the moment I moved in…it's kept me busy and keeping busy cheers me up like nothing else."

"That's good," said Irene. "I remember back when you were in high school and you were so antisocial and depressed. It was only when you started getting serious about your school work did you start to open up. It's a good habit to have Sarah and we're all proud of your accomplishments."

Sarah didn't really respond to that, just bit her bottom lip. The time Irene was referring to as "getting serious" about her schoolwork was when she'd bid the Labyrinth fair well. She'd begun the slow and painful process of insisting that it was all a dream and it couldn't possibly have been real. She'd missed them all so much and she wanted to get back to them but she couldn't ignore that her world was the one in which she lived. Now, however, all those years of work had been for nothing. Now the son of her archenemy was playing in the living room with the very same little brother that his father had tried to take away.

"But, onto other things," Irene piped up. "How are you doing? Do you like your new job?"

"Oh? Oh, yes," said Sarah, snapping back to reality. "Work is good. The other teachers are nice. The principle's a bit…high-strung. But, yes, things at the school are going really well."

"Well, what about…outside work?" said Irene, tentatively. "Is there…anything going on in your life?"

Sarah shook her head. "Nope. Not really."

"But this boy…"

"I'm just keeping an eye on him until his father comes to get him," said Sarah, quickly.

"His father?" said Irene, looking interested.

"Yes, his father," said Sarah, seeing where Irene was hoping this conversation was going. "His father is going to pick him up and take him home…to his lovely _mother_."

Irene blinked, looking confused. "Now why would a married man leave his son with a woman he doesn't know very well?"

"Things at home are…chaotic," said Sarah by way of explanation.

"Oh my!" said Irene. "Is it a…" she lowered her voice slightly, glancing back and the two boys and whispered "d-i-v-o-r-c-e?"

"What? No!" said Sarah sharply. "They're happily married…I think….Anyway it's none of my business."

"Oh Sarah," said Irene, shaking her head. "Honey, why are you so against the idea of having a man in your life? I think it's about time you settled down."

"Irene," Sarah moaned. "Why does it always come back to this? I told you, I like my independence."

"But if some gentleman is letting you get to know his son," Irene pressed. "I think that mean's it's his way of hoping to incorporate you into his life."

"That's not it at all!" said Sarah. "Irene, I told you, he's married and I am NOT about to break up someone's marriage. And if that _is_ his idea in sending Jareth to me he has _really_ got another thing coming!"

Sarah seethed for a few moments. The idea had never occurred to her, not even once. Could this whole situation in sending Prince Jareth to her really be King Jareth's attempt to try and get her to come back? Was he after her heart yet again? Was he bored with his fussy hussy of a wife and looking for a good concubine to keep on this side? Oh, when she saw that slimy king again she was really gonna give him what for!

Wait a minute….since when did she start thinking about his wife being a hussy? The Goblin Queen had nothing to do with this. She was an innocent, at least as far as Sarah knew. The Queen couldn't help it if King Jareth was still trying to get at Sarah, could she? Besides it was all ridiculous! Jareth was a married father now and if he couldn't deal with the fact that Sarah had escaped him, then he was just the villain she'd always took him for. He had so much going for him to be chasing after an old fling in another world. He had a son, who was a really great kid once he stopped getting into sharp objects, and a wife…who was beautiful as far as the prince told her…very beautiful…probably rich…and magical…

"Sarah?" said Irene, suddenly. "Are you alright honey? You look distracted."

Sarah's thoughts snapped back to the present. "What? Oh, yeah! I'm fine. Just…just a little lost in thought."

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Irene and Toby spent the whole day with Sarah and Jareth. They took the boys to the movie theater (Jareth was ecstatic. "It's like a tele-cision that takes up the entire room!" he whispered excitedly in her ear. "And there are no annoying interruptions!") and then to a restaurant for dinner. Afterward, they went to the park, the same one where Sarah had found Jareth and Sarah and Irene watched the two boys play together while they sat and watched on the stone benches.

"Stay back, evil villain!" Toby yelled, holding up a stick he'd found and pretending it was a sword. "For I, Sir Toby, shall smite your armies and take back my kingdom!"

"You haven't a chance!" said Jareth, with a nasty smugness that made him look _exactly_ like his father. "You are but one man against my multitude of goblin armies! After him, my minions! Move your worthless selves and defend your King!"

"You'll never stop me, Goblin King!"

"And you'll never best the Labyrinth, little knight!"

Watching the game was actually starting to make Sarah uncomfortable.

After the boys had played themselves out, Sarah treated them to frozen yogurt before finally heading back home. By that time, it was starting to get late and Irene decided that it was time that she and Toby head home.

"I had a great time today, Sarah," said Toby, throwing his arms around his sister's middle and hugging her tightly. "I hope you can come visit us more often."

"You can count on it, Toby-kins," said Sarah, smiling at him.

"And it was great meeting you, Jareth!" said Toby, shaking hands with the Goblin Prince. "How long will you be staying with sis, anyway?"

"I'm not sure," said Jareth. "Until my father comes to get me."

"Cool," said Toby. "Maybe we could hang out again!"

"I would enjoy that," replied Jareth.

After their final goodbyes, Irene and Toby departed. Sarah turned her attention to the Goblin Prince again.

"I liked your brother!" he said, enthusiastically. "Man, I haven't gotten to play like that in ages! Maybe I can bring him home with me to the Underground if I ask father really nicely…"

"DON'T!" Sarah said, hastily. "Don't…don't do that! I…I'd rather Toby stay up here where he belongs, okay?"

"Spoilsport," grumbled Jareth.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Outside, in the darkness brought by the coming night, two creatures watched them through the lit windows of Sarah's house.

"Is it time yet, Master?" asked the smaller of the two. The creature had a face like a mask, pale with slits for eyes and a mouth that barely moved when it spoke. It wore a red robe and had large, bat-like wings protruding from its back.

"Yes," said the second creature. This one was tall and dressed in a long black robe and cloak with a high color that hid most of its face. What could be seen of its face was heavily scarred and blistered as though the skin had been burned. It was completely bald and though one eye socket was empty the other was filled by a vibrant red eye. There was no white in its eye. Just a black pupil spinning around, like a flea swimming amidst a pool of blood.

"She has allowed the people into the sanctuary," said the winged Unseelie. "She also took the Fae Prince into the world. How very unwise."

"We knew she was inept as a guardian," said the bald Unseelie. "But now we know just how inept. Tomorrow night, our wine shall be the blood of the next Fae King!"


	7. Attack

The next day, before Jareth woke up, Sarah went downstairs to fix dinner when she found Quizzel sitting on the kitchen table, looking pensive.

"There you are," Sarah said, coming over to the goblin. "I was wondering where you were all of yesterday."

"I was upstairs in the attic, madam," Quizzel replied. "I didn't think it a good idea for your Aboveground relations to see me."

"That was…probably a really smart move on your part," Sarah admitted. "Irene would have probably freaked out…"

"While I was up there," Quizzel went on, cutting Sarah off. "I came across a most peculiar tome and thought I would inquire about it with you."

Quizzel pulled a book out from his tiny butler's jacket. Sarah stifled a gasp. It was _The Labyrinth!_

"You…found that upstairs?" she asked, frightened.

"Indeed I did," said Quizzel, eyeing her suspiciously. "Madam, I'll have you know that this story contains details about our world that nobody knows about. Nobody in _this_ world knows about it anyway. Where did this come from?"

"I…I don't remember," Sarah answered honestly. "I really don't."

"And this…this plot!" Quizzel said indignantly. "King of the Goblins falls in love with the girl…preposterous! Gives her certain powers…mad! Solve the Labyrinth before her baby brother becomes one of us forever…ridiculous!"

Sarah stared at the goblin, confused. "Quizzel…that book…the things it's about…you know that they're…true…don't you?"

"True!" snapped Quizzel. "How can they be true? Nobody has run the Labyrinth in many years! His Majesty the King has not been infatuated with anyone as he has with Her Majesty the Queen!"

"Well, maybe he has," Sarah snapped. "Maybe he did like someone else before his precious little queen! Maybe someone did run the Labyrinth and win! Maybe he did steal my…."

Sarah stopped before she could say anymore. Quizzel was staring at her. "I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you're talking about madam," he said, looking lost.

"How long have you even been working for the Goblin King anyway," Sarah asked.

"My employment began when His Majesty the Prince was but a wailing Faeling," Quizzel answered. "Before that I was a simple citizen."

"Well, don't you remember a time, before you worked for the King, that someone ran the Labyrinth," Sarah prompted him. "That she and three other creatures came to the city and there was a big battle and…"

"What's going on?"

Sarah spun around. Jareth had come in, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and staring at the two of them, looking puzzled.

"The Madam was asking about a time before you were born, Your Highness," Quizzel said.

"Oh, don't bother asking him," said Prince Jareth. "Goblins can't remember anything for longer than a year. If it's really important we remind them of it, but otherwise they just forget about it and move on with their lives."

"So...Quizzel wouldn't…know anything?" Sarah said, slowly.

"Yeah," said Jareth. "Why? What were you asking about?"

"Nothing!" Sarah said quickly, coming over to the goblin and snatching _The Labyrinth_ out of his hands. "Why don't you get a bath and I'll make some breakfast, okay?"

Jareth stared at Sarah for a moment, looking a bit suspicious, but then he simply shrugged and went back upstairs. Sarah rounded on Quizzel.

"Look," she said. "This book is how I know about your world and how the Goblin King knows me. Prince Jareth can't know about this okay? It'll only hurt him."

"I would never do anything that would endanger His Majesty the Prince," Quizzel insisted. "But Madam, this tome…"

"I said forget about it!" Sarah snapped. "Jareth can't know, okay? It'll only hurt him."

Sarah turned her back on the goblin, who shrugged and buried his nose in _Fae Rearing for Dummies_ again. Sarah's mind was a mess as she attempted to cook breakfast for them. She'd thought that book was long gone, but Irene must have stashed it up in the attic with some of her other belongings after she'd moved out. She couldn't let the Prince know about the book or that it was real. What would he think? His father kidnapping children, offering to be her, Sarah's, slave? It would be enough to make his head spin. It might even upset him enough to make him run away again. Besides, that was so long ago. It was over.

There was suddenly a knock on the door. Sarah looked over at the door through the living room, her eyebrow raised. Who would be visiting her on a Sunday at 10 a.m.? Sarah walked through the kitchen and opened the door.

"Toby?"

"Hi, Sarah!"

Sarah's little brother smiled up at her, warm and happy in his greeting.

"What are you doing here, Toby? I thought you and Irene went home yesterday?"

"Oh, not yet," said Toby, still smiling brightly. "I was wondering if I could play with Jareth again today."

"Um," Sarah glanced behind her. She could hear running water, meaning the Prince was taking a bath like she'd told him to. "I don't think so, Toby. Why don't you come…"

Sarah stopped suddenly. She glanced around. "Where's Irene?" she asked.

"Oh, I came on my own," said Toby, still smiling.

"All by yourself? How did you get here?"

"I just wanted to play with Jareth," said Toby.

"Wait a minute…Toby, what's going on? Where is your mom? How did you get here?"

Toby looked up at Sarah, a big smile still on his face as though he was completely unfazed by the growing concern and suspicion in Sarah's tone. "I just wanted to play with Jareth," he said again.

"Toby, what…?"

Sarah reached out her hand and placed it on her brother's shoulder when suddenly, the little boy's hand reached up and grabbed her wrist. Sarah was startled and tried to pull her hand free, but his grip was amazingly strong. Too strong.

"Toby!"

"I just wanted to play," he said again, but this time Sarah could see something was very wrong. Toby's eyes were strangely bright, as though made of glass, there was a peculiar shine to his skin that looked like plastic, and even his voice sounded off like a recording.

"Hey! S-stop that!" Sarah cried, trying to pull her hand free. "Qu-Quizzel!"

"I just wanted to play," the boy repeated, now tugging on Sarah's wrist and trying to pull her out of the house. "I just wanted to play…I just wanted to play…"

"Quizzel!" Sarah screamed. "Get to Jareth! Hide him! Protect him!"

"I just wanted to play…I just wanted to play…I just wanted to play…" the fake child continued to chant in a mockery of her little brother's voice. The plastic skin of his hands and face began to crack and chip away, revealing something that looked like wood underneath.

Sarah continued to fight with the puppet, trying to free her hand that was caught in a grip so tight she could feel her fingertips growing numb. The puppet then reached out its free hand, pulled it back, and thrust it forward into Sarah's abdomen. But instead of feeling the pain of a punch, Sarah felt something even worse. The pain was sharp and it burned through her. She looked down, as the puppet withdrew its hand, she saw a blade protruding from its palm. She'd been stabbed.

A wave of dizziness overcame Sarah as she sank to her knees in front of the puppet, feeling the wetness of blood staining through her clothes down her legs. She couldn't see straight or think straight. All she could see the dark figure that had appeared behind the puppet shaped like Toby.

"Foolish mortal," said the Unseelie. "Fear not, it will not kill you. This is simply where you shall stay out of my way. I shall have the blood of the next king."

Her vision was blurry. There was a roaring in her ears. She couldn't feel anything. It didn't even hurt anymore…

Everything was dancing…

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Jareth had just climbed out of the bathtub when Quizzel came bursting in. "YOUR MAJESTY!" the goblin cried, looking horrified.

"Quizzel!" Jareth yelled angrily. "Don't you idiotic goblins know how to knock!? I could have been indecent…"

"This is most serious!" the goblin. "Madam has been attacked! It's the Unseelie! They got her to open the door for them! They're coming!"

"What!?" Jareth cried. "Wha-what am I gonna do?"

"We must lock the door and pretend we're not home!" said Quizzel, locking the door and then curling up in the sink as though trying to make himself invisible.

"But what about Sarah!" Jareth cried. "She's down there with them! I have to go down there. I have to help her!"

"Your Majesty, we cannot," said Quizzel from out of the corner of his mouth as he tried not to move from his seemingly "invisible" spot. "We must keep you safe! Your Majesty doesn't even have his magic fully developed. You won't be able to…"

"But Sarah…!"

The locked bathroom door was suddenly pounded on as though by a battering ram. The prince froze, terror creeping up on him.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

_Sarah was running through the old park where she used to practice her lines. She was dressed up in one of her old costumes, a crown in her hair, looking like a fairy tale princess._

_ "Give me the child," she said, to nobody in particular. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered…"_

_ "_Hardships unnumbered?!"_ a regal voice suddenly interrupted her musings. "_Oh, please. There were ten of them…at best!"

_"I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City…"_

_ "_Fought? Ha! All you did was turn a few measly minions against me. One can hardly call that fighting._"_

_ "…to take back the child that you have stolen."_

_ "_…that I was ASKED to take. You always seem to forget that little bit, darling._"_

_ "For my will is as strong as yours…"_

_ "_Hardly."

_"…and my kingdom is as great…"_

_ "_You wish._"_

_ "You have no power over me."_

_ "_I have no power, eh? You're the one who doesn't seem to realize she's caught in a dream world. Shame. And you caught on so quickly when I pulled you into that ballroom illusion._"_

_ Sarah turned around. The Goblin King was sitting on one of the stone benches, watching her intently. "You…You're him, aren't you? You're the Goblin King!"_

_ He smiled at her, that familiar smile. "_I've been waiting for a chance to see you again, my dear_," he said. "_As much as I've longed for a chance, I'm afraid that you have something that's actually very important that you ought to be doing instead._"_

_ "I…I don't understand."_

_ "_Yes you do. Think for a moment, Sarah. Think VERY hard._"_

_ Sarah tried to think, but her memories were a blurry. She couldn't remember anything definitely. And now Jareth was staring at her, his mismatched eyes staring at her expectantly._

_ "…take back the child…that you have…"_

_ "_That's right, Sarah. Think now._"_

_ "The child…no…the prince…!"_

_ "_Getting there._"_

_ "The Unseelie! The Prince! I have to protect the Prince!"_

_ The Goblin King smiled at her just as the park began to shatter like glass around her and Sarah felt a stabbing pain in her side._

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Madam! Madam! Awaken, Madam, I beseech you!"

Sarah's eyes snapped open she was laying on her back before her front door. She sat up to find Quizzel standing over her.

"Mercy be, Madam, your brain works!"

"What…happened?" Sarah's mind was groggy and trying to think clearly felt as easy as swimming through sludge. Her limbs were heavy and she glanced down at her side. The blood she'd seen gushing from her stomach was gone and there was no sign of a wound. "I…I was stabbed…"

"Unseelie magic!" Quizzel told her. "It only has power over the people of the Aboveground if they allow it to. You, Madam, must be very powerful indeed to overcome such a powerful spell as the Hallucination."

"Not my first time with it," Sarah admitted trying to stand up. The stab wound may have been gone but her side still ached and she felt oddly stiff. "The Unseelie…where are they? And Jareth…where's Jareth?"

"His Majesty the Prince was finishing his bath when the Unseelie attempted to break down the locked door," Quizzel explained. "His Majesty the Prince was very frightened and his panic started to set in…"

"Oh no," said Sarah, realizing what the Goblin was trying to tell her. "He jumped out the window again, didn't he?"

"Indeed, Madam," said Quizzel. "His Majesty the Prince fled out the window and I hid myself in the cupboard when the Unseelie managed to break in. They followed the Prince out the window and I ran down here and tried to awaken you."

"We have to find Jareth before they do," Sarah said. "Come on."

Sarah threw on some shoes and quickly ran after the Goblin Prince, Quizzel hot on her heels, hoping to find him before it was too late.

**Ying-Fa: Yikes! I'm all out of pre-written chapters! Don't fret though, the next is near completion. The down side: I'm going to be separated from my computer for the next week, so it'll probably a bit of a wait for the next installment. Thank you so so so so very much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing thus far!**


	8. Magic

**Ying-Fa: Hey everybody! I'm back! Sorry the update took so long. There was a lot of catching up I had to do when I got home. Anyway, here's the next chapter!**

The storm clouds from the other day had resurfaced and threatened rain as Jareth ran through Sarah's neighborhood, with hardly any idea where he was going. He needed to find trees and nature, somewhere he could hide. He needed to get away from the Aboveground civilians, in case the Unseelie tried to harm them or turn them against him. Human minds were weak against the Unseelie, they might succumb to the hallucinations and illusions the Unseelie might subject them to. Most importantly, however, Jareth needed magic.

_Father,_ the Prince found himself thinking desperately. _Why did you leave me here? With a guardian who can't do magic in a place where magic won't be welcome, how could I be safe? What am I supposed to do, Father?_

Jareth's journey for shelter took him to an old cemetery not far from the park. He sprinted through the headstones and marble carvings, finding one tall enough to hide behind before he finally allowed himself to stop, catch his breath, and gather his wits.

The Unseelie would find him here eventually. He had no way to fight them by himself. Oh, why did he not pay more attention to his magic lessons back home? They would be so useful to him right now. If only he could use his father's crystal magic…

The Goblin Prince stretched forth his hand and tried to remember every word that his magic instructors had told him about how to summon magic. Clear your mind, reach inside for the potential of magic, let the magic reach you, summon it with your willpower alone and it will follow. But nothing ever happened. The Prince thought and thought, but his magic wouldn't reach him.

"Come on," he grumbled, staring hard at his own palm, trying to summon the magic in his blood to manifest himself. "Come on! Work!"

Nothing happened. He tried again, concentrating and concentrating so much that beads of sweat began to form on his brow. The light breeze suddenly grew colder, clouds were rolling in and shadows were growing darker through the cemetery. They were after him. He had to hurry or he didn't stand a chance.

"Work! Work! Work!" the Prince pleaded, but there was no change. His increased panic was only making things worse. He could feel the cold chill of darkness drawing ever closer to him. He was running out of time…

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"We're running out of time!" Quizzel shrieked as he and Sarah hurried through down the road, the goblin leading the way, as they tried to catch up with the lost prince.

"Are you even sure of where you're going?" Sarah asked the goblin, her heart pounding, still shaken from the Unseelie attack.

"Indeed madam!" Quizzel told her. "He went thissa way, I'm sure of it."

"How can you tell?" she asked.

"His scent, madam," the goblin replied. "I've had the prince's unique scent memorized since he was but a Faeling. I can pick it up from miles away. Goblins can always recognize the scent of magic, especially if it comes from one who governs over them. His Majesty the King made sure I would be able to trace his Majesty the Prince in case I ever lost sight of him."

"Well, that's something," Sarah admitted. "Still, I don't see why he didn't just come here with his son? What was there to gain by leaving him here with me? I can't do magic!"

"His Majesty the King had to take care of the Goblin Kingdom, did he not?" Quizzel reminded her. "He had the entire land to protect. The Unseelie have had a particular interest in this Majesty the Prince, so sending him as far out of their reach as possible seemed to be the best option."

Sarah wanted to agree with the goblin, but there still seemed to be something wrong with this picture. The attack from the Unseelie had shown her just how incapable she was to protect the Prince at all. Had the Goblin King not expected the Unseelie to follow his son all the way here?

_Why would you leave him with me?_ Sarah couldn't help but think. _Would you really put your son in danger just to punish me? What's really going on here, Goblin King?_

"Here, madam!" the goblin cried.

Sarah suddenly snapped back to the present and realized where Quizzel had lead her. She was at the cemetery at the other end of the old park where she first found the Goblin Prince. A shady, wooded area full of ancient, crumbling tombstones and a few selected crypts, it was full of hiding places. It was a good place to hide, even if it made the situation all the more ominous.

"Jareth!" Sarah cried. "Jareth! Where are you?"

"Be careful, madam!" Quizzel hissed at her in a hushed tone. "The Unseelie are not far! I can sense their darkness!"

He was right. Sarah could feel it too. It was colder and darker here than it was before they'd entered the cemetery. The Unseelie were here, but they were hiding in the shadows.

Sarah moved before she lost her nerve. She ran forward, dodging through the cracked stones, looking everywhere for the prince. In her heart she kept up a chant that gave her courage and focus. _They can't hurt me… they don't have power over me… they can't hurt me…they don't have power over me…_

Finally, behind a large angel with half its wing cracked off, Sarah saw him. The Gobin Prince was kneeling behind the stone, his hand outstretched and his eyes scrunched closed in concentration. Sarah ran over to him, calling out his name. The prince looked up, panicked at first but relief washing over him as he looked up at her, as if she were a beacon of hope…

A large wooden spike struck the ground directly in between Sarah and the Goblin Prince, stopping Sarah dead in her tracks. Sarah glanced up and saw the puppet that bore a horrid resemblance of her brother sitting atop the angel, the wooden spike protruding from the center of its chest like an extra limb, its horrible wooden face split in a wide smile.

"_Oh goody!_" it said in its toneless, recording-like voice. "_It's playtime!_"

The Unseelie puppet then grew several more spiked limbs, like spider's legs, and they darted forward and wrapped themselves around Sarah's waist and Jareth's leg, keeping them from running. The grip was crushingly painful and, as Sarah struggled to get free, fearing her ribs would crack under the strain.

"_Let's play a new game!_" the puppet announced. "_It's called "Who gets to die first". First won to die loses!_"

"Sarah!" the Prince cried, tugging at the wooden limb wrapped around his leg. Another limb came toward him, but he managed to grab it with both hands, keeping the spike an inch away from impaling his forehead.

Sarah was also struggling, but she couldn't get free and the puppet's crushing grip was so strong she was starting to lose the feeling in her fingers, which were pinned down to her sides. She couldn't breathe. She was starting to panic. She was going to…

Sarah and the Prince were suddenly jerked violently as the puppet was struck by something in the back. Quizzel had jumped on the puppet from behind and had started bashing it hard in the head with _Fae Rearing for Dummies._

"FOR THE MAJESTIES!" he cried, bringing the book down on the puppet's head again and again chanting, "DIE! DIE! DIE!"

"_Hey! Wha? You stupid goblin!_" the puppet cried, indignantly, now sending more spiked limbs toward the little creature to pull him off. "_Get offa me!_"

Something about the heroic assault of the goblin snapped sense into Sarah. It reminded her so much of how her friend Hoggle and how he saved her from a gigantic goblin robot that defended the goblin city. The memory of Hoggle made her remember her time in the Labyrinth and how she'd defeated the Goblin King. The Unseelie were creatures of the Underground and creatures of the Underground only ever had power over you if you _let_ them have it.

"N-no," Sarah gasped from within her restraint. "Y-you can't…hurt me!"

"_Oh, yes I can!_" snapped the puppet childishly, still trying to fend off Quizzel's attack with a heavy book.

"No!" Sarah cried, feeling stronger. "I won't let you! You can't hurt me and you can't hurt Jareth!"

"_Yes I…what?_" The puppet's taunt was cut short by an ominous cracking noise. Deep grooves started to form amidst the puppet's legs.

"I won't let you," Sarah cried, feeling as brave as she had when she fought to save her brother all those years ago. "You have NO POWER OVER ME!"

Sarah's restraints shattered and disintegrated before her eyes. The puppet was falling apart and Sarah only got a quick glance at the stricken expression on its face before it crumpled into dust. Quizzel, who had been standing on the puppet's shoulders immediately fell to the ground in between Sarah and Jareth and _Fae Rearing for Dummies_ landing promptly on his head.

"S-Sarah," said Jareth slowly, staring at her in utter bewilderment. "That…that was incredible…why didn't you tell me that you could do magic."

"Because I can't," Sarah replied, rubbing her arms and chest where the puppet had squeezed her. "I just don't let magic get to me."

The little prince's face lit with a huge smile, brighter and far more genuine than any smile she'd ever seen grace his father's face. The admiration in his gaze warmed Sarah's heart and when he ran over and threw his arms around her, she couldn't help but hug him back.

"Well doesn't this make me sick?" snapped a voice from above them.

Sarah and Jareth broke apart. The Unseelie that Sarah had seen mastering the puppet back at the house was there. It's pale, mask-like face was leering down at them and its bat-like wings folded around it like a cloak.

"It seems you aren't as pathetic as we first thought," the Unseelie said to Sarah. "A mortal with an immunity to magic…how rare. Still, that doesn't change the fact that you are nothing but a hull of flesh ready to be cut down!"

"I'd like to see you try," Sarah snapped, feeling overwhelmed with bravery.

"Okay," said the winged Unseelie, a large blade protruding suddenly from its sleeve. "This is me trying."

The Unseelie slashed at the two forcing Sarah and the prince to dive out of the way. The Unseelie brought the sword down again, directly over Sarah's head and Sarah, stupidly, raised up her arm to defend herself. The blade sunk into her arm, cutting past her sleeve, past her flesh and muscle until it stopped at the bone. Sarah couldn't help the scream that tore from her throat, her arm drenched in blood.

"The Goblin Kingdom will be ours," the Unseelie told her, wickedly raising the blade again. "The Fae family that rules them will truly and forever be destroyed. The Labyrinth will become a place of darkness, a void of evil for all things Unseelie to inhabit. The Labyrinth will grow until it covers all the Underground, turning the world into a sea of chaos and despair. We _need_ it. Therefore the Prince must die before he takes over the Labyrinth after his father. If you insist on standing in our way, then you must simply die too."

"Sarah!" screamed the Prince.

"Madam!" shrieked Quizzel.

The Unseelie swung the blade down again when it froze suddenly and cried out in pain. A white barn owl had appeared out of nowhere and slashed its talons across the back of the monster's head. The Unseelie shrieked and swung the sword around at the bird but just as quickly as it had appeared, the owl was gone.

"No," the Unseelie murmured. "It cannot be…"

"Leave her alone!" the Prince cried, running forward in front of Sarah, shielding her.

"Wretch!" cried the Unseelie. "You will not win!" It brandished the sword again.

"I said LEAVE HER ALONE!" Jareth cried, throwing his hand into the path of the sword. But instead of the sword cutting through Jareth's flesh, it struck something that appeared suddenly in the Prince's palm. A completely round, clear crystal.

When the sword struck the crystal, the impact was like that of a small bomb. For a moment everything was rumbling, noise and an infinite blinding light. Then, when the light faded and the world was quite again, the Unseelie was gone with only a small pile of ashes exactly where it had been a moment before.

"J-Jareth," said Sarah, reverently, looking at the prince in amazement. "You…you did it!"

Prince Jareth looked completely dumbfounded by what had just happened, staring at his hand in utter disbelief. "I didn't think…I could do it."

"A-Amazing, Your Majesty!" cried Quizzel. "You successfully mastered the crystal magic! Your father, His Majesty the King, would be most proud."

"Y-yeah," said Jareth, smiling. "I…I can do crystal spells now, just like father! I…I can't believe I actually did it!"

"That's great Jareth," said Sarah, wincing from pain as she looked down at her nearly severed arm and the pool of blood that was starting to form. "Now could you…um…use it to heal me before I bleed to death?"

"Uh? Oh yikes!" cried the Prince, bending down and summoning another crystal and quickly placing it on Sarah's wound. The crystal suddenly turned red as it soaked up Sarah's blood like a sponge, before he rolled it carefully over the cut. The blood seeped back into Sarah's arm as the muscles and skin started to reattach.

"Come Madam, Your Majesty," said Quizzel. "To Madam's automobile. We must leave this area at once, in case there are more of them!"


	9. Aftermath and Tragedy

Sarah, Jareth, and Quizzel hurried back to Sarah's house and barricaded themselves inside. Shaken, injured and exhausted from the run-in with the Unseelie, the trio sat in the living room for the longest time, just sitting there and letting the realization of what had just happened sink in. After awhile Jareth fell into an exhausted, though fitful sleep with his head in Sarah's lap. Quizzel simply sat, occasionally saying things like, "We are SO lucky to be alive," and "Did you see me hit it in the head? That was cool. I mean that was really, really cool."

Sarah sat there, stroking the prince's hair, feeling dazed. She was in over her head, and this proved it. Had the Goblin King anticipated this? Had he sent his son to her hoping that the Unseelie would kill her in the process? No, she concluded. This wasn't his style. Besides, he wouldn't endanger his son like that…would he? He didn't mind taking Toby away, but then again, Toby wasn't his. There were all questions that she so wanted answered, but there was no way they could be answered without the Goblin King here himself to answer for all this.

"I mean, the way that book just came down on its head like that," Quizzel piped up suddenly. "Just like "whack!" and he was all like "ow!" and I was thinking "hey, I did that, I made it say 'ow'!" and…"

"Quizzel," said Sarah, interrupting the goblin softly. "Could you maybe make some tea? And maybe a snack for the prince?"

"What? Oh! Oh, yes, certainly madam!" said Quizzel, as though only remembering that he was a butler and needed to conduct himself with due decorum. He then trotted off to the kitchen where he continued to mumble about his extraordinary accomplishment of attacking an Unseelie with a heavy book.

"Sarah," the prince said suddenly, startling her. He looked up at her from her lap, his mismatched eyes full of an innocence Sarah hadn't seen there before. "How did you learn to fight magic like that? How did you become immune?"

Sarah gut twisted. She really didn't want to go into the details of her past experience with his world, but if anyone deserved to know, he did. "Jareth…Your dad and me…we didn't get along very well. He wanted me to stay in the Labyrinth so I…I had to kind of fight him. I wouldn't let him have power over me and he…he kinda lost control over me. That's how I did it. "You have no power over me" is kinda my mantra. It's what gives me strength, even against magic."

"But I don't believe that," said Jareth, sitting up. "Why would my father try to make you stay in our world? That doesn't make sense to me. My father wouldn't just come here and bother people, take things from them, and drag them to our world."

"People change," Sarah assured him. "By the sounds of things, your dad has gotten a lot better then from when I knew him. Maybe it was you and your mom that changed him for the better. And he came to my world, to me because…because I called him. I…I wanted him to."

"Really?" said the prince, looking confused.

"I was a stupid, stubborn kid," Sarah said quickly, as though trying to defend what she did. "I was always dreaming of things I'd never see. I was just a dreamer, I guess. I wanted to believe in magic and other worlds and…it cost me. I almost lost…something. Something very, very important would have been lost forever if I had stayed in the Labyrinth. That's why, when I came home, I decided that I couldn't be that way anymore."

"Why would you give up your dreams?" said prince Jareth. "Dreams are a magic in themselves. Why would you give them up?"

"Because I _grew_ up," said Sarah, heavily. "You can't be that way in this world."

Jareth gave a derisive sniff. "Well _I_ don't think so. This world shouldn't be so stuffy if it allowed for a little more magic."

Sarah let out a breath of laughter. "Sure, Jareth. But, that's all too late for me now. I'm done with that stuff."

"Then why'd you take me in?" asked the prince, with a little smirk.

"Because you were a kid who needed help and I wasn't going to just abandon you," she replied. "Besides, you're not your father and I never had anything against you."

"So…you like me better than my father?" Jareth asked, grinning.

"Much better," Sarah said, beaming.

Jareth's face broke into a big smile and he laid his head back down on Sarah's lap, getting comfortable again. He sighed softly as Sarah started to pat his hair again. "You're my favorite, Sarah," he murmured.

"You're favorite…what?" she asked, with a grin.

"Just…just my favorite," he replied sleepily.

Sarah looked down at the tired little boy. They'd been lucky today, nearly avoiding disaster. Sarah may have known how to stop the Unseelie from affecting her, but it wasn't much in the way of saving Jareth. He was just a little boy. Using magic seemed to have worn him out, seeing as how the normally bouncing-off-the-walls boy was now snoozing in her lap. Where were his parents? Were things really that bad in the Underground? Were her friends okay? Was the Goblin King, Jareth Sr., okay?

_I can't keep him here much longer_, Sarah thought suddenly. _Jareth's getting too attached to this place, to me. This isn't his world and he has to go back eventually. If he gets too attatched to this place, he might want to stay and that'll only cause problems. I hope he understands that his place is there and not here._

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

That night, once the shock had worn off, Sarah got a call from her boss Mrs. Hyde.

"Miss Williams, you didn't file your paperwork on Friday," she told her, in her bossy voice.

"Oh," Sarah gasped. She'd completely forgotten the reports she was supposed to turn in. "I'm so very sorry Mrs. Hyde, I…"

But apologizing didn't seem to help much. Mrs. Hyde ranted and raved about her inexcusable, sloppy work ever since she'd gotten to the school. She made several severe comments in regards to Sarah's classroom management, her student's progress, her lack of participation in school events, etc. Sarah braced herself as she kept the phone from her ear, knowing full well what was coming at the end of this tirade.

"And there's no point in coming into work tomorrow," Mrs. Hyde snapped. "We're cutting the drama program for budget reasons. Your students will be transferred into study hall classes and you are dismissed. You can pick up your final paycheck at the end of the month."

"Wait," Sarah couldn't help but respond. "You're cutting the program now? Term barely started."

"So that'll make things easier for the students to handle the new transaction," snapped Mrs. Hyde. "Your lack of involvement only made us realize we could speed up the process faster than we'd thought, allowing us to pull the trigger now as opposed to waiting until the summer. I wish you all the best, Miss Williams." And with that, the line went dead.

"_Sure_ you do," Sarah growled as she slammed down the phone. She couldn't really say she didn't see this coming (Mrs. Hyde was such a stickler for rules and a naturally mean person) but she also couldn't say she wasn't upset about it. Her first steady teaching job and after only a couple months, her program cancelled and her job lost. Perhaps she could still find something else….

_Tap, tap, tap._

A noise from her window snapped Sarah out of her angry/upset/gloomy daze. Something was outside her window, but it was hard to make out in the darkness of a cloudy night. Whatever it was, it came past the window a second time, tapping insistently. Sarah saw a flash of white wings.

Sarah leapt off her bed and hurried over to the window, opening it quickly. At once, a white bird flew into the room. Sarah had been expecting and owl, but it turned out to be a dove, pure white and cooing.

The dove flew once around the room before landing on the sill of the open window. It raised its small head and stared expectantly at Sarah, as if waiting for her to make the first move. Sarah didn't know anybody in the Underground who could turn into a dove. Was this really one of them or just a regular bird?

"Jareth!" Sarah called. "Jareth! Come in here, quickly!"

As soon as Sarah called the prince's name, the bird bobbed its head in understanding. Instantly it began to change. In a glimmering flash, the bird was gone and a woman stood before Sarah, the wind from the open window blowing her long hair and dress skirt majestically.

The woman was absolutely beautiful. Her hair was white-blond and fell almost to her knees. Her face was perfectly chiseled to perfection with blue-crystal eyes and pink lips and milky pale skin. She wore a black dress that glimmered all over with beads and gems and an intricate necklace of black stones sparkled at her neck. She looked at Sarah, with a polite mixture of curiosity and puzzlement, as thought she found Sarah as fascinating as Sarah found her.

The door to Sarah's bedroom opened and Jareth and Quizzel came in.

"Sarah, what's…" Jareth stopped at once when he spotted the woman. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Mother!"

The Goblin Queen's face broke into a brilliant smile as she beheld the prince. "My son," she murmured, her silvery voice choked with emotion. She held out her arms, and Jareth ran into them, hugging her around the middle.

"Your Majesty the Queen!" yelped Quizzel, bowing respectfully. "What brings you here of all places? The Underground, the Labyrinth, is everything well."

"Yes," the Queen replied. "The war is over. We are victorious."

"The Labyrinth is safe again!?" Jareth cried, happily. "Yes! That's wonderful, Mother!"

Sarah stood aside and let the reunion take place, but she noticed something wasn't right. She could see something in the Queen's beautiful eyes that something was bothering her, upsetting her, but she was pushing it aside to hide it from her son.

"Mother, this is Sarah," said Jareth, suddenly bringing Sarah into the conversation. "She's the human girl that father sent me to. She's been protecting me from the Unseelie. They came earlier today but Sarah stopped them!"

"Is that so?" said the Queen, looking up at Sarah with surprise.

Sarah shrugged sheepishly. "I, um, I didn't do that much."

"But you did," said the Queen. "You have protected my son whilst he was here in this world. If you truly protected him from the Unseelie…as a mother I can barely contain my gratitude." The Queen came over and gently took hold of one of Sarah's hands. "No thanks could ever be enough for what you have done for my son."

Sarah merely chewed on her lips, unable to say anything. This woman was so nice and kind and so downright beautiful! No wonder the Goblin King fell in love with her.

"Where is Father?" Jareth asked suddenly. "Is he coming too? He'll want to thank Sarah too, I'm sure of it. He was the one who decided that I should go to her."

Sarah fought off a panic attack. No! She couldn't see the King again, she just couldn't. She couldn't see him with his gorgeous wife and his wonderful, energetic son. He couldn't see her like this: a jobless, unmarried, lonely wreck living in her dead father's house.

The Queen turned to her son and suddenly the sadness she was hiding in her eyes became visible on her face. "My son…my poor boy…my dear child…" she seemed to be struggling to find words to express what was troubling her.

Jareth's face fell. "Mother…what's wrong? What is it?"

The Queen knelt before her son and took his hands in hers. "My darling boy…Your father, the King….Your father died earlier today…securing the end of the war and bringing peace to our homeland forever."


	10. Seeds

The bottom of Sarah's stomach dropped out as waves of numbness filled her whole body. Prince Jareth's eyes had gone glassy as he stared at his mother, as though he had told her something private and forbidden that he wasn't supposed to understand. Tears rolled down the Queen's lovely face as she looked at her son's stunned look of disbelief. She took a shuddering breath and continued.

"The Unseelie attacked relentlessly," she said, softly. "Our numbers were greater than theirs, but they never ceased their attacking, despite the conditions of their own soldiers. Your father saw his options running low. He could simply keep attacking until the last of them was wiped out, but it would cost too many lives. Deciding to stop the bloodshed, your father offered a parlay with the Unseelie. He wished to negotiate terms hoping to coax them into surrender. The Unseelie announced that they would only cease their needless violence in exchange for one thing and one thing only…the death of the Goblin King."

"He…he's really…gone," Jareth murmured, tears beginning to form in his eyes as the realization of his mother's words was starting to hit home. "He's…Father is…"

"Your Father gave his life to secure our kingdom," the Queen said, trying hard to contain her mournful sobs. "To see to it that you had a home to return to, that you would have a future…that you would be able to come home to our dear Labyrinth and not some terrible wasteland that would have resulted from more war…"

"Yet I'd have to return to the Labyrinth _without HIM!_" the Prince shrieked, tears splashing down his face. "That's not right…it's not fair…Father, it…it can't be true."

Sarah couldn't help herself anymore. She couldn't stand there and let Jareth suffer like he was anymore. She knelt down quickly and wrapped her arms around Jareth, letting him feel something real, something solid, something still there. It was what Sarah had needed when she found out that _she_ had lost her father. But living in an apartment by herself without so much as a roommate, she'd had to suffer alone. She didn't want Jareth to feel like he had to do the same.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to him. "Jareth…I'm so sorry."

The anger that had spiked from the Prince's grief dissolved quickly into tears and crying. He quickly hugged Sarah back, sobbing and sniffling, reminding Sarah that he truly was only just a child. The Queen simply watched them sadly, her own grief was beyond crying at this point. Quizzel the goblin seemed torn between wanting to bawl like a baby and wanting to conduct himself like the butler he truly was. To compromise he simply started chewing his handkerchief while his eyes leaked tears non-stop.

Sarah wasn't entirely sure what she was feeling. She knew that she felt very sorry for the poor boy and knew what it was like to lose a father. She also felt sorry for Quizzel and the Queen as they were both suffering as well. But what did she feel for the King? Had someone told her this news thirteen years ago, she probably wouldn't have believed the Goblin King would have such nobility in him to sacrifice his life for the sake of his subjects. Perhaps having a family had deflated his ego somewhat and made him more humble. Was she truly glad that he was gone? No. She wasn't. She didn't have a lot of fondness for the Goblin King, but he had been a part of her life. He was part of something that had a major effect on who she has become as a person. She was sorry that he was gone, but she was truly sorry that his family had to try and move on without him.

After a long time, the Prince extracted himself from Sarah's arms and hurried back to his mother. "Wh-what…what are we gonna do, Mama?" he asked, sounding very small indeed.

The Queen sobbed again at her son calling her "mama" as opposed to "mother", but she managed to regain her composure. "We…we must return to the Underground, my dearest," she said. "There is…much still to do. The Labyrinth survives but…it needs us."

"But what about…" the Prince looked back to Sarah, his face tear streaked.

Sarah bit her lip. It was that time. A time she had dreaded the moment she took the Prince into her home…but now she dreaded it for entirely different reasons. It was time to bid the little Prince farewell.

"Jareth…" Sarah said, hesitantly. "You…you've got to go home with your mom now. It…it's time for you to head back."

"But what about you?" the Prince asked, blinking up at her.

"I gotta stay here," she told him. "This is my world, Jareth. I've…I've got to stay here. I can't go with you."

"Why can't you?" Jareth asked. "Mother, can't she come with us? She's the one who took care of me all this time. Can't she come too? We could give her a position in the castle…"

"We could…" the Queen began, but Sarah cut her off.

"No," she insisted. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but…no. I have to stay here. I…can't go."

"You've been there before!" Jareth insisted, not giving up. "We could make it better than you remember. I'll make it so much better for you, Sarah. Please, please come with us!"

"I don't belong there…"

"You could!"

"Jareth…"

"You said you had to give up on your dreams by coming back here," Jareth reminded her. "That you grew up and forgot them all. But I can bring them back for you, I can! Just come with us and I'll show you! You don't have to stay here all by yourself!"

The Prince's pleas were going down a road that Sarah really didn't want to go down right now. This conversation had to end and Jareth had to be let go. She couldn't do this again.

"Jareth, please stop," Sarah insisted. "That was a long, long time ago. I can't live in your world. I couldn't then and I can't now. It's not where I belong and I never will belong there. I'm really sorry, but that's the way it is."

"But I don't wanna go without you," Jareth insisted. "You're the nicest grow-up I've ever known. You're pretty and smart and you listen to me. I…I love you, Sarah. I don't want to be apart."

Sarah bit her lip and turned away from the Prince. She couldn't bear the things he was saying to her. She couldn't go through this again. "I'm sorry," she said again. "I really am…but I can't go with you. I'm not going with you."

"But…!" Jareth insisted, but he was cut off by the touch of his mother's hand on his shoulder.

"Dear," she said, softly to him. "This lady is right. She belongs in her own world. We cannot force her to leave. She has a life here. It is her choice."

"But Mother…!"

"Son," the Queen insisted, a pained look in her eyes. "Let it be."

Prince Jareth looked back and forth between the two women, looking stricken. The Queen raised her eye to look at Sarah, who turned away from her, unable to face her either.

"I can never repay the services you have done for our family," the Queen said, softly. "No gift or words can express my gratitude. The loss of my husband and the toll the war has taken upon me are burdens that have been lifted slightly in knowing of the good care you have taken of my child."

Sarah's insides squirmed uncomfortably at the Queen's speech. She wished they'd get these goodbyes over with and leave her to deal with these twisted, awful emotions.

"Should you desire anything from us…anything at all…Should you need anything…"

"I don't," Sarah said softly, interrupting the Queen. "I don't want anything. Just…just look after yourselves, okay? I…need to get back to my own life now."

The Queen's expression was puzzled, but after a moment she simply nodded. "As you wish," she said. "Come, my dear. We must return home."

Prince Jareth stared hard at Sarah as though trying to mentally make her change her mind about going with them. But when Sarah wouldn't even look at him, he took hold of his mother's hand while Quizzel came forward and grasped the Queen's other hand.

"Fare thee well, Madam," said Quizzel, forlornly. "You will be most missed by us."

Sarah managed a watery smile for the goblin and nodded to him. She couldn't look at the Prince right now. He so reminded her of his father and Sarah's emotions were in too much of a jumble to process any memories of the Goblin King.

The Queen turned again toward the window and prepared to depart for their true home. Before they could go, the Prince turned and spoke to Sarah one more time.

"You've given up on yourself, Sarah, but I won't. I'm not going to give up on you!"

Sarah's heart constricted. "Jareth, please, there's nothing…." But as she turned to face them, Sarah found herself in an empty room with an open window.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The next day dawned gray and gloomy as it had for days now. One look outside told Sarah that it would be raining on and off again all day. Sarah sat up in her bed and stretched. Maybe she could make some bacon and eggs for Jareth and Quizzel before she had to go to work…

But then yesterday's events caught up with her. She had no more work. She had no Jareth or Quizzel to cook for. She was alone in her father's house as she had been at the start.

Sarah showered and dressed, trying to ignore the eerie silence that seemed to plague her house. She went downstairs and noticed that the doors and windows were still barricaded from when they'd tried to keep any remaining Unseelie from showing up. But there was no more threat of that anymore. The Unseelie would have left the Aboveground when Jareth and Quizzel departed for home, now that the war was over.

All day Sarah tried to find something to do with herself. She knew she had to call and look for a new job, but she didn't have the energy to try that right now. She didn't want to go anywhere or do anything. In the end, she just sat on the couch and watched random things on TV, allowing herself one day to just sit and brood.

Sarah hated to admit it, but she'd gotten to like the little Prince in her house as well as his goblin butler. But things were over now and their departure had left Sarah stuck in that emptiness that she'd been feeling when she first moved in. She was afraid of this very thing and now the Prince had left for good and Sarah couldn't really explain the ache she was feeling.

She didn't know how she felt about the Goblin King's death. From the way the Queen had put it, his death was very noble. As good a way to go as any, maybe. But his death only seemed to add to the emptiness she felt. The way he'd spoken to her and offered her his love and her dreams were as vivid in her memory as the day they'd happened. His mismatched eyes, all-knowing and mysterious as she stared at him in her parents room, their softness as they'd danced and he sang…he really did have a lovely voice…his song…their song…. He'd found someone else, had gotten married to a beautiful woman…way prettier than she was…

A knock at the door interrupted Sarah's torpor. Wondering who it could be, she got up and tried to make herself as presentable as she could. On a gloomy day in which she was in a particularly unhappy mood, she'd decided sweats would make for a good outfit on her day of brooding. She ran her fingers through her hair and went to the door.

It was Mrs. Hyde.

"Day one of unemployment and you're already looking worse for ware, Miss Williams," she said, sneering at Sarah's attire.

"Yeah, well, I didn't exactly have a very good morning when I woke up and realized I didn't have a job," Sarah snapped. She was no longer under Mrs. Hyde's employ and so she felt no need to be respectful to her anymore.

"I've come by to deliver your last paycheck, Mrs. Williams," said Mrs. Hyde, pulling a slip of paper from her purse and handing it to Sarah.

"How nice of you," Sarah said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "So sweet to come personally and…"

Sarah froze as she was about to take the paper. She'd spotted something wrong with Mrs. Hyde's wrist. Almost completely covered by her sleeve, her hand and wrist were connected by something…a plastic hinge…

At once, Sarah made to slam the door, but Mrs. Hyde caught it, wedging herself to the doorway so it wouldn't close. The spell making her look human was coming undone just like the Toby-shaped puppet had. Her skin took on a plastic sheen, her eyes glassy and murderous…

"I've seen this trick before!" Sarah snapped, still trying to force the door shut. "And it doesn't work on me…Unseelie!"

Mrs. Hyde pushed against the door with an inhuman strength and Sarah was thrown backward. The Puppet-Hyde entered the room, followed behind by another Unseelie master. This one was tall and bald with a high collar obscuring his face, thought leaving his blood-red eyes visible as they stared at Sarah.

"You're much more clever than I gave you credit for," the Unseelie said. "From my first impression of you, I thought I'd have the Prince long before now."

"The Prince is gone," Sarah snapped at the Unseelie. "He went back to the Underground with his mother last night. There's no point for this anymore."

"Oh, but there is a point," said the Unseelie. "You see, he will return. Once we announce that we have you, we shall demand his life in exchange for your own."

"My life means nothing in the long run," Sarah snapped. "I'm not important. You're not winning any wars by using me."

"War?" said the Unseelie. "Who cares about a war?"

"What? But…but your people…"

"I only used the war to my advantage to get to the Goblin King," said the Unseelie. "His death will be my salvation. You saved the Prince's life from my associate yesterday and now he must repay the favor. When he gives his life for yours, then I shall have nothing to fear from the King anymore…for there will be no king, not now and never again!"

Sarah's head was spinning with confusion. "What do you mean…"

"Never you mind," snapped the Unseelie. "Mrs. Hyde, seize her!"

Before the Puppet could put her hands on Sarah, the scene was interrupted by a strange sound.

A long, low, wailing howl Sarah thought she'd never hear again.


	11. The Truth at Last

**Ying-Fa: Sorry everybody! I don't normally take this long to update! Never the less, here's the next chapter!**

"Ludo!"

The giant, hairy, horned monster that Sarah had befriended so long ago was standing in her doorway, howling loudly. At his call, the rocks from the garden path outside shook free and began launching themselves at the Unseelie and the puppet Mrs. Hyde. The Unseelie managed to slip out of the way but the puppet was pummeled and crushed beneath the weight of the stones.

"Insignificant beast!" roared the Unseelie. "How dare you challenge me!?" The Unseelie raised his hand to strike Ludo with a powerful spell but…

"HOLD!" shrieked a noble voice. "How darest thou attack my sworn brother!? I shall fight you to the death!"

"Didymus!" Sarah cried as the little fox knight appeared out of nowhere and latched himself onto the Unseelie's shoulders, beating him repeatedly over the head with his staff. The Unseelie roared in fury and tried to pull Didymus off him, but the fox clung onto him stubbornly.

"Don't you dare hurt him," Sarah snapped running over to help Didymus, but the Unseelie then turned his fury onto her. A ball of black fire appeared in his hand and he hurled it at Sarah. Instantly, she felt something like a battering ram slam into her chest, throwing her backward onto her back, the wind knocked out of her. Sarah was sure she was dead, that the fire had destroyed her until she came to her senses. Behind her, the wall was covered in black flames. The fire had missed her and what had actually hit her was…

"Hoggle!" Sarah gasped, still winded. The little dwarf who had been her first friend in the Labyrinth was lying next to her, a little dazed. When he saw her, her growled at her.

"Are you outta yer mind!?" he snapped. "Don't just stand there staring when an Unseelie's about to attack ya!"

Despite everything that was going on, the comfort of Hoggle still being his stubborn little self after all these years made Sarah laugh. "Still my friend, I see," she said, smiling.

Hoggle blushed and spluttered. "Would you worry about that later? We've got an Unseelie on our hands here!"

The Unseelie had finally succeeded in getting a hold on Didymus and pulling him off his shoulders. Didymus barked and growled furiously, still trying to bash the Unseelie's skull in with his staff. The Unseelie threw him bodily across the room where he landed roughly on the couch. Ludo, seeing this, howled again and the rocks came to life once more. They rolled threateningly at the Unseelie, who clapped his hands once. A force like a sound wave erupted from his hands, shattering the rocks into dust.

"Rocks!" Ludo wailed, mourning his inanimate friends.

"It'll take more than a rabid squirrel and a few stones to get rid of me," the Unseelie snarled, leering around at the four of them.

"Indeed it will," came a new voice. "It'll take magic and that happens to be _my _area of expertise."

Sarah's heart froze as shock overpowered her every thought. A flash as shimmering dust and there he was, standing right in her living room, was the Goblin King himself. His odd, mismatched eyes were looking right at the Unseelie, his gaze was cold and merciless.

"J-Jareth…." Sarah murmured weakly, trying to get up to make sure he was real.

"Get DOWN!" snapped Hoggle, holding her back.

"You," said the Unseelie. "No….it cannot be!"

"That's right Cormac, you have failed," said Jareth, coolly. "The Goblin King lives despite all of your attempts to make it otherwise."

"No!" roared the Unseelie. "This cannot be! I refuse to allow it!"

"You know the prophecy concerning your fate, Cormac," said the Goblin King, conjuring a crystal in his black-gloved hand. "It stated that your demise and the demise of all others like yourself would come at the hands of the Goblin King. You worked very hard to ensure that never happened, starting a war, attempting to assassinate me…but it looks like your efforts are in vain."

"NEVER!" shrieked the Unseelie, summoning another ball of fire and hurling it at the Goblin King.

The King simply smiled and summoned a crystal. It stretched out and elongated into a shield against which the fire glanced off harmlessly. The Unseelie shrieked in fury and tried to attack again, but Jareth got there first. Four more crystals rolled themselves forward and latched onto the Unseelie's hands and feet. The crystals grew until they completely encased the Unseelie's limbs so that his feet were planted firmly into the ground and his hands could no longer summon fire.

"No!" shrieked the Unseelie. "You cannot destroy me!"

"I already have," said the Goblin King. "All the rest of your kind is gone and, with your demise, the Unseelie will be extinct. Really, Cormac, all this just to get at me and save your own skin?"

"My kind will rise again," the Unseelie snarled. "You shall see. From the blackest, coldest, filthiest pit of Hell we shall rise again. We will crawl our way back into existence. You have my word! And when we do it will be you and your kind that shall taste our wrath first!"

The Goblin King smirked, unimpressed. "I'm sure you will. But that might take much more time than even I have. That being said, even if you do return, I'll see you sent back again and again until there is nothing left. Until that day, I bid you adieu."

The crystals around the Unseelie's arms and legs continued to grow bigger and bigger. When the Unseelie's arms and legs were completely covered, the four crystals joined together to form one gigantic sphere that enveloped its torso, chest, and finally head. When it was completely enclosed inside the crystal, the crystal began to shrink again, with the Unseelie still inside it. The Unseelie slashed and fought desperately to get out of the crystal, but it was useless. As the crystal grew smaller, the Unseelie began to dissolve as though it was coming apart at the seams. Its whole body was crumbling to dust inside the crystal like a sugar cube in water until finally, once the crystal was its normal size again, the Unseelie was gone.

The Goblin King walked over and picked up the crystal that had been the death of the Unseelie. Taking it into his fist, he squeezed it between his fingers until it cracked and crumbled into dust in his hand. "Fare thee well, Cormac, last of the Unseelie," he said, softly. "An end to you and your miserable kind."

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the room tried to process what had just happened. An odd, almost satisfying silence in which the Goblin King relished in his hard fought victory and Sarah was just too stunned to say anything at all.

"Good show, your Majesty! Good show!" piped up Didymus, who had just recovered from being thrown. "Well done, my bretheren! An excellent battle!"

"Sawah!" bellowed Ludo, who had finally caught sight of Sarah. Though Sarah had not fully recovered from watching the Unseelie's death, was snapped back to reality when she found herself in the crushing embrace of her giant, gentle friend.

"Wh-whoa, Ludo!" Sarah gasped. "G-good to see you too!"

"Well met, My Lady," said Sir Didymus, coming over to bow before her. "It has been quite some time, quite some time indeed!"

"Ludo, she can't breathe!" snapped Hoggle, trying to pull Sarah from Ludo's crushing embrace.

Sarah took a moment to relish the return of her old friends. Her heart swelled at the sight of them. She didn't realize just how the Prince's appearance in her life made her realize just how much she missed them and how it had hurt to let them go. But she had more pressing matters to address. Gently pushing her way past them, she walked forward until she came face to face with the Goblin King.

"You," she said, looking him right in the eye. "Have some explaining to do."

The Goblin King smirked. "Yes, I believe I do."

"Those things…those Unseelie…"

"Will never be bothering you again."

"Mrs. Hyde…."

"A false person. There never was a Mrs. Hyde. Only a puppet that's purpose was to spy on you."

"There was a puppet that looked like Toby…"

"It was created after the Unseelie saw him leaving the house. The true Toby is unhurt at home with his mother."

"They told me you were dead…"

"You were misinformed."

"Your wife…your son…they were hear. You sent your son to me. Why? Why did you send him to me to protect him?"

The Goblin King did not reply. He simply smiled at Sarah and looked around her house. "It's been a very long time since I came to the Aboveground," he said, conversationally. "A very long time. Not since last we met, I believe."

"Don't change the subject," Sarah snapped. "Your son, does he know you're alright? Your wife…"

"I'm afraid you're a little behind the times, Sarah," said the Goblin King. "Or…are you ahead of them?" he added, looking a little lost.

"What are you saying?" Sarah asked him, in a tired voice.

"I'm saying that you're missing the big picture here," the Goblin King replied. "There's something here that you've overlooked. A piece to the puzzle that you didn't realize was right in front of you."

"You're avoiding my question," Sarah snapped. "Your wife said you were dead and your son…"

"Sarah," said the Goblin King, slowly. "I have no wife and I certainly don't have a son."

"Wh-what!?" Sarah stammered, feeling the bottom of her stomach drop out in shock. "Th-that's not true, is it? The Goblin Prince, he was here! I took care of him."

"That was not who you thought it was," the Goblin King said. He looked around the room, looking nostalgic. "I hate to see your house like this. My memories are always of this place looking its nicest when we were here. Now to see it like this…it tarnishes those memories."

"What are you ta…." Sarah froze. She looked at the King who was staring back at her meaningfully. "Wait…no…you can't be serious! That boy…the Prince…that was…that was…."

"You guess right, Sarah," said the Goblin King. "That boy was not my son. That boy was me."

**Ying-Fa: And here's the twist, ladies and gentlemen! A big box of cookies goes to ChucklingDevil, helikesitheymikey, Lylabeth, qiana, GhibliGirl91, and Zwart Wit (and anyone I might be forgetting) for guessing the twist right! Now, go out and buy yourself some cookies and say they're from me!**


	12. Future

"Wha…wait…no…" Sarah stammered, trying to wrap her head around everything she'd just heard. "That…that can't be…how is this even possible?"

Jareth simply nodded his head gravely. "When I was very young a seer foretold that the Unseelie, the evil creatures that plagued our world would meet their demise at the hands of the Goblin King and his kingdom. Upon hearing this, they immediately started a war with my family and the inhabitants of the Labyrinth. My father was the Goblin King at the time and, since I was his only child, if anything were to happen to him in this war, I would be up to me to fulfill that destiny. When there came a failed assassination attempt on my life, my father decided that the Underground would not be safe until the war was over.

"In my land, children or those of great importance are sometimes sent to the Aboveground. It is a land that only has magic as long as the inhabitants allow it. Should an Undergrounder be sent there, the disbelief of the Abovegrounders acts as a kind of shield, protecting them until it is time for them to return. So, my father sent me to this world accompanied by our old butler."

"Quizzel…" said Sarah, starting to feel a little dizzy with all the information she was getting. Ludo sweetly picked up her whole couch, dropped it behind her and helped her sit down to absorb it all.

"Indeed," Jareth confirmed. "When I arrived, I was found by a wonderful and beautiful woman who called herself Sarah. She saved me from the Unseelie that had managed to follow me here. I expect Cormac had been expecting my father to pull this kind of stunt for my protection and was awaiting me. But Sarah drove them back and protected me, even though she had no idea who I was.

"She'd told me that she'd been to the Underground before and had had some kind of confrontation with my father. This made no sense to me, but I accepted it as any child would. The more she spoke of it, the more I found I resented what she'd told me. How could my father have wronged such a kind, lovely and strong person? It made no sense to me, for my father could do no wrong as far as I was concerned. Because of whatever it was that my father did, she had a very strong will in fighting against magic. Her strength and defense against the powers of the Unseelie and the Underground were very impressive to me. Before long I knew I half dreaded my return home for when I would have to leave, it would be forever.

"Then my mother appeared and informed me that the war was over and my father was dead. In that moment I knew I wanted Sarah to come to our home with us. I wanted her to be a part of my life forever to join us in the world I called my home. Yet, she refused me. Her heart had given up on magic and dreams. She said her world was here, but I couldn't bear it. I was determined to see her again."

Sarah's mind went back to the previous night when she'd thought she'd said farewell to the little boy she'd taken care of all this time. How he'd insisted that she come with them, that he'd make the Labyrinth better, just for her. How he'd said that he wouldn't give up on her…and all the while…she was talking to…

"I returned to the Labyrinth and took my place as King. The Unseelie had all been hunted down and defeated after the war. I rebuilt everything that was destroyed and made the kingdom my own. Yet, I was never completely happy. I was determined to see Sarah again. I knew that no matter how I tried to persuade her, she would not come with me. The Sarah I knew had given up on her dreams, had rejected the magic within her own heart.

"And so I came to the conclusion that, if Sarah was ever going to be with me and I could convince her to stay, I would have to see her at another time, before she rejected magic and miracles. So, I turned back the clock, journeyed back to what was her past and sought her out. I had goblins keep an eye on this younger Sarah to wait until she unleashed the magic in her heart."

Sarah's jaw dropped again. Things were starting to unravel, to make sense. She looked up at the Goblin King, paying close attention to his every word, but he was wrapped up in his story and did not seem to really notice how intently she was listening.

"When I finally met with the younger Sarah, I was stunned at what I saw. She was much different, than her older self. Nevertheless, I saw that she still had belief and dreams in her heart, and so I offered her her dreams right then and there. But what she truly wanted was for me to undo the only wish she'd ever allowed me to grant her. She'd wished her infant brother away and I'd taken him and now she wanted him back. So I let her run the Labyrinth to try and win him back. I thought the Labyrinth impossible to beat and figured, when she'd given up and realized that this world of magic was far better than the world she'd left behind; she'd want to stay with me.

"I had forgotten her strength, her ability to fight for what she believed in, and how far she would go to protect what was important to her. I'd forgotten just who it was I was dealing with. No matter how hard I tried, she managed to best the Labyrinth and refused her dreams. It was then that I realized, truly, what I had done. It wasn't my _father_ that had done Sarah wrong. My _father_ didn't lead her to give up on her dreams. _I _had."

Sarah shook her head, wrapping her head around all this information. So the Goblin King, both the man and the child, had been the same person the whole time? A dark thought crossed Sarah's mind: How horrible Jareth must have felt when he realized that he'd been the one to make her give up on magic? He'd gone back in time hoping that she'd embrace magic, embrace _him_, but he'd been the very reason that she'd given it up in the first place.

"After she'd gone and all my glorious plans had failed, I continued to simply watch from afar. I saw her develop into the woman I'd known so long ago, had admired so much. I saw the life she'd made for herself, the hardships that she'd face and the loneliness she'd endured. Then I received another reminder of the prophecy of old, concerning the end of all the Unseelie. For me, the Unseelie had been extinct for years, but I'd been warned that one of the generals was still alive and realized that one Unseelie still remained in the confines of the Aboveground. I never realized as a child that I'd left the adult Sarah in the Aboveground with Cormac still with her, so I went back and watched over the time she's spent with me in my youth, in my owl form so she would be alarmed. And as I watched my young self depart over again, I realized that Cormac was closing in on her, so I fetched the only faces that she knew from the Underground that she would trust and to battle with Cormac so…we have arrived at the present."

Sarah let out a long, slow breath as she processed everything he'd told her. His father sent him to her as a child in what was his past but her future…then Jareth came to her in his future but her past…and he'd come back now after all this time in what was both their present.

"You've been here…the entire time…" Sarah murmured. "Because of something that I didn't even know I did because…I hadn't done it yet."

Jareth nodded. "It can be difficult to understand the flow of time, but ultimately it all ends up in the same place. Now, we are both here today because of the actions of our pasts that affected our futures and yet brings us to the present."

"Can we move this conversation forward?" grumbled Hoggle. Sarah jumped, having temporarily forgotten that her friends were in the room. "All this past and present stuff is givin' me a headache."

"Sorry," Sarah said, looking around at her friends and the king. "I'm just…a little confused right now." Sarah took a deep breath and faced Jareth. "You're telling me that I've been taking care of _you_ these past few days?"

"You have been," Jareth said, nodding.

"And…because I took care of you…_that's_ why you took Toby?" she asked.

"That and because you asked me to," Jareth reminded her.

"And you've been here _again_ at the same time as when you were little?"

"Yes."

"So both your past _and _present selves have been here the whole time."

"Indeed."

"But…but…WHY?"

Jareth simply gave her a sad look, one that was vaguely reminiscent of the one that she saw him give her just after she'd defeated him in the Labyrinth. "Simply because…in my mind…you're still…my favorite."

Sarah froze. Jareth's explanations so far had boggled her mind and made things even harder to understand in her current state of mind but somehow those words explained everything. How could this man have known the words that the Prince had murmured so sweetly to her unless he'd been there to. They were the same person, the Goblin Prince had grown up to be the Goblin King…and he was standing right in front of her.

This was the point where Sarah fainted.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

When Sarah fully regained consciousness, she wished she hadn't. All of her realizations came rushing back to her tired mind, the knowledge that she'd met a little boy from the Underground, took care of him, got attacked by Unseelie, sent the boy back home, got fired, her former boss who was actually a puppet controlled by an Unseelie and had tried to kill her, she'd been reunited with her old friends from her childhood who happened to be magical creatures, and the little boy she'd been taking care of was actually her arch nemesis.

Couldn't she just faint again and forget it ever happened?

Unfortunately, fainting didn't seem to work more than once for her, so she opened her eyes and looked around. It seemed that Ludo had carried her up to her parent's bedroom and had laid her out on her bed (she could tell it was Ludo because her sweatshirt was covered in orange-red hair) and someone had put a damp cloth over her forehead. She sat up and took off the cloth as she tried to pull herself together.

"Woah, woah, woah! Look who's up!"

The presence of an another person snapped Sarah back to reality. She turned to see that another one of Jareth's minions seemed to have followed him here from his kingdom. The old Wise Man sat in the corner of her room by the door, fast asleep, while his Hat had noticed her get up and started squawking loudly.

"Get up, lazy bones!" the Hat snapped. "Wake up! The lady's awake!"

"Zzzzzz…hmm…eh? What?" the Wise Man awoke slowly. "Oh, yes, um…Ah! Madam…I see that you're awake."

"As are you, you lazy old thing," grumbled the Hat.

Sarah regarded the strange figure before her. "You…what are you doing here? Where's…my friends and…and him…?"

"Downstairs, I believe," said the Wise Man. "His Majesty the King seemed…eh…well, wanted to give you some space, it seems."

"How…considerate of him," Sarah groaned.

"Are you alright, Madam?" the Wise Man asked.

"I think so," said Sarah, though she felt exhausted. "It's just been…a very crazy twenty-four hours is all."

"Oh, yes, um…" the Wise Man. "Sometimes, my dear, we must be tried so that we can be taught."

"Pfft! As if she needs to hear this crap right now," snapped the Hat.

"Be quiet!" grumbled the Wise Man. He groaned and gave Sarah a very kind smile. "I do hope that you will not judge His Majesty the King too harshly. He has been waiting to see you a very long time."

"Really?" said Sarah, agitated. "By the sounds of it, he's never left! He's been following me since he was young…or since I was young…or both…urgh!" Sarah clutched her head. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"We must all make our own choices, Madam," said the Wise Man. "You have been in His Majesty the King's heart for a very long time and he has so longed to see you again….as have I."

Sarah's head snapped up. "You? Why have you…?"

The Wise Man simply smiled and pulled out what looked like a very dirty mop head and handed it to Sarah. She took it gingerly between her fingers and realized that it was actual an ancient, dirty, almost completely worn out book. On the title she could just barely make out the remains of the title.

_Fae Rearing for Dummies._

If Sarah thought her brain couldn't handle another surprise, it turned out that there was room for one more. "_Quizzel!_" she gasped. "Is that you!?"

The Wise Man smiled and nodded. "Indeed, Madam, it is I."

"Don't forget me!" piped up the Hat.

"Oh, yes, um…and this thing," the Wise Man grumbled, looking up at the Hat.

"But…how…what happened…?" Sarah asked.

"Upon returning to the Labyrinth after our stay with you, Her Majesty the Queen rewarded me with wisdom and the ability to recall past events better than any other Goblin," the Wise Man informed her. "And, as I started to grow old and my memories started to fade, I was given this Hat to remind me in case I forgot anything…although I'm not sure it's really a reward…" he glanced up at the Hat and gave it a withering look.

"You're no prize yourself," said the Hat.

"When I was at the Labyrinth…did you know who I was?" Sarah asked.

"I could guess," said the Wise Man. "Though my ability to help you was limited by His Majesty the King's orders that no one could help you through the Labyrinth, I couldn't help but offer you advice."

"Advice!? Ha!" said the Hat.

"Be quiet!" growled the Wise Man.

"But Quizzel," Sarah protested. "Couldn't you have helped me at all? You knew Jareth and I had a history…you were THERE for heaven's sake! Why couldn't you tell me? Why couldn't you warn me about what was going on, what Jareth was doing?"

The Wise Man closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. Sarah was afraid that, for a moment, he'd gone back to sleep, but he opened his eyes and looked at her dolefully.

"Would it have changed anything? Would it have stopped you trying to win back your brother? Would it have made you change your mind? What would telling you have done?"

"I…it…it would have been nice to know," Sarah grumbled.

"Madam," said the Wise Man. "I have known His Majesty the King longer than any other, longer even than his own dear mother, may she rest in peace. As I watched him grow, I could see that he was no longer complete. The death of his father shook him badly but he'd already tried to fill the void in his heart with the hopes and dreams of being reunited with you."

"But what do I have to do with anything?" Sarah asked, sadly. "What makes me so important?"

"Has His Majesty the King ever told you how important to him you are?" the Wise Man asked.

"Well…n-not really," Sarah hesitated. "He just wanted to rule me…he wanted me to fear him and…and…other…stuff…"

"I meant when he was young," the Wise Man clarified patiently.

"Well, he said I was his "favorite" whatever that means," said Sarah, shrugging.

"That's just it, Madam," said the Wise Man, softly. "In his youth, His Majesty the King rarely ever used the word "favorite" to describe anything. He only ever used it when he found the one thing, above all else, that he really truly loved."

Sarah sat there, stunned. "No…It can't be…after all this time…since he was a child…he's loved me?"

The Wise Man nodded. "Above all else."

Sarah put her head in her hands. "All this time…the whole time…he just wanted to be with me. That's why he listened to my wish…why he offered me my dreams…he just…he just wanted to be with me…all this time…"

"Well, well, then," said the Hat. "How's that for a wake up call, eh? Now, please, leave a contribution in the little box," he added as the Wise Man took out his collecting box and shook it eagerly in front of Sarah.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Sarah found Jareth later that evening in her old bedroom where he'd stayed as a child. Sarah hadn't cleaned it up yet so the make-shift bed was still there. The Goblin King was looking around with a look of sad nostalgia on his face. He and saw her as she walked in the room.

"I see you talked to Quizzel," he said, softly.

"Yeah, I did," said Sarah.

"I had hoped that one more revelation wouldn't be too much for you," said Jareth, looking a little worried.

"No, it's alright," said Sarah. "I, um, well I've had my fill of surprises for awhile but…I think everything is starting to make sense now."

"Now that it is," said Jareth, stepping cautiously closer. "What will you do?"

Sarah shuffled uncomfortably. "I'm…not sure what comes next."

Jareth hesitated. "I…I would like to see you around the Labyrinth…even if it is only upon occasion to meet with your friends. And…if possible…I would like it if…I could continue to see you as well."

"Jareth," Sarah said, hesitantly. "I…I'm not gonna lie. This is all really confusing for me. There's a lot that I have to come to terms to and…a lot that I have to decided for myself. There are things here that…I need to sort out and I can't just…disappear off to the Labyrinth with you and the others."

"Of course, I didn't think you'd want to," said Jareth, hastily, his voice suddenly turning regal and standoffish, rather like when Sarah had seen him on the night he took Toby. "That's fine, I was merely offering the chance in case you were to take it. It matters not to me, not anymore anyway. I just thought that seeing your friends upon occasion might spark a bit of life back into your dull routine…that is if it is as dull as I remember."

He was trying to hide his disappointment behind quips and jibes and Sarah could see right through it. She smiled as she stepped forward and took his hand in both of hers. Jareth stopped suddenly and glanced down at their hands, looking stunned.

"However," she said, slowly. "If I had your permission…I would like to go back every now and then…spend time with my friends…and you. If that's alright."

Jareth stared at her as though hardly daring to believe what he was hearing. Then, slowly, he smiled. "I would like that…very much indeed."

The past and the present was a long and complicated jumble between the two of them, however as they grasped each other's hands and looked into each other's eyes, it seemed the beginning of a bright and glorious future.

**Ying-fa: There you have it people! That's the end! I'm so glad I could write this fic with cmsully and I'm so glad you could enjoy it, too.**

**And, now, a few words from my co-conspirator I MEAN co-writer, cmsully:**

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**"Hello, fellow Ying-Fa fans, cmsully here!**

As the little story idea that I just could not write myself was shared with the world, I was ecstatic by the overwhelmingly positive response it received. Reading the various reviews, I'll admit that I laughed, I squeed, and I was SO excited by how much people were anticipating the rest of the story. You would not BELIEVE at how hard it was for me to refrain from confirming some of your guesses on the big plot twist... but alas, I am as guilty of enjoying the evil cliffie as any other author.

Anyway, I just wanted to use this opportunity to say a few words:

First, to Ying-Fa-dono- thank you SO MUCH for agreeing to take on this idea. I admit, when I first approached you I was VERY nervous at how you'd receive it. However, as we've worked together and you've helped make that little idea into this amazing story, I've come to realize just how awesome of a person you are. If you're ever in need of another story idea, I'm ALWAYS up for another collaboration!

Now, to all of you fans- thank you SO, SO MUCH for loving this story! Every day, I always check the review section just to see the awesome responses to this little idea that I had but could never write myself. Chapter 11's reviews especially were enjoyable, for I'm totally a Whovian myself (although I haven't gotten through that many of the Matt Smith episodes yet... which WILL be changed soon, though, thanks to Netflix). I especially giggled when a review by DragonRose4 seemed to have the perfect title for a Doctor Who/Labyrinth crossover. Oh, and the offer for collaborations is totally open to you guys too, for I get WAY too many plot-bunnies than I can handle myself. Even now, I have a great HP/Labyrinth crossover idea... however, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Finally, if you have any questions regarding this story (like who came up with various ideas), feel free to PM me! I'd be happy to answer them! And remember- no matter where life may take you, never give up on magic for it can be found anywhere... as long as you know where to look!"

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**We are so grateful! Thank you:**

**cmsully, TailzTheGreat, serena221, thequietcorner, Fantasymyownworldofhearts, Dark Angel Millenia, black-heart-green-eyes, J Luc Pitard, PleaseContinue, Kitten4, Hello Dear, Yautja321, The Queen of Water, spartiechic, Sarah Rose 29, Kypriothe, DragonRose4, , PinkutoMomo, Niamh, Lylabeth1, samuraistar, hungrypiranha, Honoria Granger, Dede42, Jetredgirl, Guest, sheniyag, Kitty-ryn, JessOvergon, helikesitheymikey, Joesette, Fairyfinder, etcetera nine, mearra, Karmira, Larissa-Hunter, Loryluv777, vampsydney, fre2beme78, Zwart Wit, Goblin Girl, auctavia1228, mynagoldenwings, Lucy, amba gurl, Aoichibi, GhibliGirl91, avulgarism, ChucklingDevil, jeannie kaulitz, kenilyn, MiaRia1832, Goblin Girl's Cast Members, ForeverAGnome, qiana, Yaya Relos, , artseblis, Animegal809, Griffinesque, FireShifter, DragonShifter, Jill, Georgie, sarahlee301, Morning and Evening Star, Kaytori, Aleta Wolff, and everyone who Followed/Favorited me and/or this story! This has been Ying-Fa-Dono. Goodnight and Good luck!**


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